Calm Before the Storm
by jugstheclown
Summary: My take on the Santana and Brittany relationship and their back story before Glee Club.
1. Chapter 1

Joan Eckart had taught children in preschool for almost seven years, in this time she'd come across many who's first language was not English and they always picked up the basics in only a few weeks, being so young of course, their minds were sponges. That was until a Puerto Rican girl and a Dutch girl joined her class around the same time in the fall of 1996.

She had simply observed them for the first few days as she usually did with children still learning to speak English, however unlike her previous pupils in their situation, they didn't make any effort to the communicate with the other children, choosing to keep themselves to themselves. After a few days they began coming in from the playground together.

A three-year-old Santana was sitting in the sandbox in her preschool's playground one morning, when a shadow fell across the hole she had been digging, she looked up scowling, expecting to see one of the children that spoke "Anglish" or whatever the word was. Instead she found herself looking in to the eyes of the little blonde girl in her class that like her, didn't know any of those words. Her glare softened a little, but she kept her eyebrows knitted together to show her distaste at being interrupted.

The girl simply smiled and sat down next to Santana, looking from the hole to Santana's dirty finger-nails, she produced a small plastic spade from behind her back that she had found in the preschool's playground toy-box. As she held it out to the dark-haired girl she smiled even more broadly and found Santana looking at her with wide eyes and her mouth in a tight straight line.

"Ben je oke?" the blonde girl asked with a concerned frown. Santana didn't know these words either, "No entiendo". They both sat for a minute looking at each other, wondering what to do, then slowly Santana lifted her pinkie and pointed to her chest and said "Mi nombre es Santana". The blonde girl didn't know what the first words meant but she had heard her teacher calling out "Santana" in class and realized that it must be this girl's name. She held up her own pinkie and pointed to her chin and said "Brittany."

Santana giggled and grabbed Brittany's finger with her own, "Amigos".

After three weeks Joan had seen improvement in neither Santana nor Brittany's English, between the two of them they had only managed (or been interested in) learning a handful of phrases; "Oops I did it again", "colouring in" (Brittany), "MINE!" and "Go away" (Santana).

However it wasn't until they got in to a fight that Joan decided it was time to call their parents.

It was cold that morning, so Brittany's mom had given her a pair of fleecy yellow mitts with ducks on them to wear. Brittany looked at them and began jumping up and down excitedly "Pato! Pato!" her mother frowned, confused. "Neen, eend." She spoke gently but firmly, at this Brittany looked up looking as confused as her mother. However she simply accepted the correction and skipped out to the car, too excited about showing them to Santana to wait.

When she arrived at the playground Santana was sitting expectantly on the bench nearest the car park, swinging her legs from side to side. As soon as she saw Brittany waving at her from a car window she jumped down to run over, she waited somewhat impatiently at the side-walk until Brittany was out her car before waving her own gloves in front of her, they were red with cats on them."Hola Brittany!" Brittany's mother heard this and was about to say something to the girl that was clearly the distraction stopping her daughter from learning English at preschool but stopped when Santana looked at her with big dark eyes and extended her mitted-hand with a nervous but clear "Mijn naam es Santana".

The woman smiled to herself at the slight mix-up of Dutch and Spanish before shaking the young girl's hand "Welkom Santana, Ik ben de moeder van Brittany." Santana nodded to show she understood, which both surprised and intrigued Brittany's mother. The meeting was sadly short-lived as the bell rang signalling for Brittany and Santana to go to their classroom, Brittany's mother kissed Brittany on the cheek and gave Santana a warm smile before returning to her car. The two girls shared a conspirational giggle before walking in to class with joined pinkies.

Their teacher Miss Eckart sighed when she saw the two girls tumble in to class as usual, together. She rubbed her temples, turning away to gather her thoughts. Meanwhile a girl in their class, one Quinn Fabray was eyeing their brightly-coloured mitts with envy, her own gloves, once a pristine white were now a dirty shade of grey. She watched them take their mitts off and place them together in the middle of the desk they shared. Quinn didn't like these girls, they said funny words and never spoke in the only way Quinn could understand, but she liked their mitts very much.

While the teacher wasn't looking and the two girls were distracted by the falling snow outside the window, Quinn edged over to their desk, watching them carefully, just as she was about to pick up the red pair of mitts they got down from the bench they had been standing on to look out the window. Quinn panicked and blindly grabbed at the mitts before scuttling back to her own desk, her spoils clutched tightly in her small hands.

Santana and Brittany didn't notice the missing mitts as the teacher was now talking and they were both listening to her, seemingly trying to understand what she was saying. Quinn grinned, feeling victorious over those funny-speaking girls, however when she looked down at her prize her face fell in dismay: she had one red and one yellow mitt.

When it was time for the children to go outside and play, Quinn rushed out before Santana and Brittany could even glance her way, they smiled at each other and reached over to where they had put their mitts at the start of the day, but Santana's left and Brittany's right mitt were no where to be seen. They both looked under the table, under their chairs and in their bags, but the mitts were of course not there.

The teacher noticed them dawdling at their desk and called for them to hurry on outside before all the snow melted. Santana by now was panicking "Pero mi guante! Mi gaunte!" this was only met by a frown and even when Brittany began speaking quickly and urgently in Dutch Miss Eckart simply herded them out the door.

Once outside the two girls joined their un-gloved hands together for warmth as well as emotional comfort, staring around the playground feeling even more alienated from the other children than they had in the previous weeks at preschool. Over by the jungle-gym Quinn was waving the stolen mitts around in front of the boys faces, who looked impressed. "And they didn't notice you taking them?" Finn asked with a frown. "They can't even speak properly, they're probably too stupid to see anything." she replied, Noah chuckled and tried to grab hold of the red mitt, but Quinn yanked them out of his reach, holding them high up in the air above her.

Santana who was still gripping Brittany's hand tightly, had been looking around the playground holding back tears when she saw the other blonde girl in her class waving something red around in the air, she pulled Brittany over towards the jungle-gym and pointed. Brittany immediately saw Santana's red mitt and her own yellow mitt on Quinn's other hand.

Brittany wasn't an angry little girl, so when rage bubbled up inside her she didn't quite know what she was supposed to do, she looked to her right to see what Santana was thinking but before she could even turn her head she felt Santana's grip on her hand loosen and she turned her gaze back towards Quinn just in time to see Santana walk up to her and push her over before gushing out a stream of angry Spanish "...esas son las minas! Dar de neuvo!"

Quinn pulled herself to her feet and looked from Santana to Finn and Noah who had backed away slightly, looking frightened. "What is she saying? She just sounds stupid!" Brittany knew very little English words but she knew what "stupid" meant because her mom had taught her not to use it when she went to preschool and hearing this girl use it to describe Santana made her even angrier, "Ze is NIET stupid!" she cried as she began walking towards Quinn to push her back to the ground, but before she was halfway there a snowball hit her square in the face.

Noah looked down incredulously at his hands, unable to believe what he had just done. Brittany fell to the ground covering her face in her hands and started to cry, this pushed Santana over the edge and with a strangled yell she launched herself at Noah.

"Please have a seat Mr. and Mrs. Pierce, Mr. and Mrs. Lopez." Joan Eckart was tired and frustrated and just wanted to go home, she wanted this to go as quickly as possible. Both girls' parents looked as though they shared her feelings, Brittany's father spoke first: "Whatever it is my daughter is in trouble for.. I'm sure it's a misunderstanding, she's a good girl." This was natural of course, what parent would think anything bad of their young child? Santana's mother however did not looked surprised to find herself summoned due to her child's misbehaviour, "Santana has two older brothers, so it's only naturally she's going to be more open to confrontation. Though I'm interested to know what started this 'fight' in the first place, she's not the kind to go around shoving people over without a good reason." She glared at Joan and tightened her grip on her daughter's shoulder.

Brittany and Santana had been looking at their feet, not understanding the adults' conversation going on in English, but at the mention of Santana's name they both looked up at each other with worried expressions.

Joan cleared her throat before saying a little nervously "One of the other students appeared to take a liking to the girls' gloves, from what I can gather she took one of each while the girls weren't looking." At this Santana's father looked angry, "So our daughters were subject to thievery and yet they are the ones being reprimanded? How exactly is that fair Miss Eckart?" Joan was now struggling to keep her cool, "Let me remind you Mr. Lopez that it was Santana that initiated the physical contact." "She's three-years-old and some strange kid takes her stuff? Of course she's going to react badly to that, she doesn't understand how to handle the situation otherwise."

"I understand that she was provoked, but the main reason I called you here today is to discuss your daughters' lack of progress in picking up English." This caught Mr. Lopez off guard, "What do you mean? Santana tells me she's been learning lots of new words at school."

"Well that's true, but she's been learning Dutch from Mr. and Mrs. Pierce's daughter here, and if I'm not mistaken Santana has been teaching her Spanish. Neither girls have shown any interest in communicating with the other children, if you want the situation to change I'd suggest putting one girl in another class."

Both sets of parents turned to confer with one another and then with the two girls. Joan obviously didn't understand a word they said when they addressed their children but she didn't need to speak Dutch or Spanish to understand the distressed expressions on both Brittany and Santana's face. Brittany's father spoke next, "Well, if that's what it will take for Brittany to learn English before she starts kindergarten, it's probably for the best." Joan visibly relaxed, happy to see they agreed with her.

Mr. Lopez however, did not agree, "And pass up the chance for our girls to be trilingual before they even start high school? I don't think so- " Brittany's mother interjected: "You mean, bilingual, if they remain together they wont pay any attention to learning English." Mr. Lopez looked thoughtful for a moment before answering, "Then I'll hire an English tutor, Brittany can attend Santana's lessons too. If they don't behave themselves and pay attention then we can separate them here, but personally I think you'd be wasting a life-altering opportunity for your daughter if you didn't give her the chance to become fluent in three languages before she reaches the third grade. That is my final word on the matter, now if you'll excuse me I have a date to take Santana for ice-cream." With that he picked Santana up and he and his wife headed out the door, but not before Santana turned over her Papi's shoulder and waved her pinky at Brittany.


	2. Chapter 2

**Author's Note: Obviously as I'm not a fluent Spanish/Dutch speaker and I'm assuming most of you readers aren't either so I'll be putting dialogue thats being spoken in those languages in English for the benefit of you, the readers but in italics so you know the characters are saying it in Spanish/Dutch :) I'll most likely use italics at some point for thoughts as well but the difference should be obvious as thoughts will lack quotation marks. Read & Review! Enjoy.**

The following week was an important week for the two girls for several reasons. Firstly they had their first English lesson with Santana's tutor the Monday following the parent-teacher meeting, secondly it was Santana's fourth birthday on the Thursday, and thirdly, though they didn't yet know it, Brittany's little sister would be born on the Saturday.

"Mama, mama! Mi maestro está aquí!" Santana's tutor had arrived a little late and Santana and Brittany had been playing in her room with the door firmly shut. Her mother wondered what on Earth such young children could be doing to warrant the need for privacy, little did she know they had been devising a plan, speaking in quiet Dutch whispers so that no one in the Lopez household could know what they were up to.

Santana had been explaining to Brittany, _"We have to keep using your words when the teacher is here." _

_"But why?"_

_"Because he is Papi's friend and he knows my family's words"_

_"Then he wont be able to teach us."_

_"Duh!"_

_"Don't you want to learn English?"_ By this point Brittany looked very confused, not understanding Santana's reluctance to comply with their parents' wishes.

_"No, the other kids at preschool are stupid and mean."_

_"Papa said they wouldn't be as mean if we could speak to them..."_

"Brittany" Santana looked the blonde girl straight in the eye as she spoke _"I don't care about making friends with any of them, none of them know the dances to Britney Spears songs or how to make a daisy chain without breaking the flowers, or how to pet a kitty without scaring it, so none of them can be as much fun as you."_ she concluded her speech by extending her pinky towards Brittany as though this settled it, who took it at once in her own with a smile that could light up the world on her face.

It was just then that the sound of the doorbell ringing sounded up the stairs, _"I think the teacher is here."_ and Santana called out to her mother.

Before entering Mr. Lopez's study where they would be tutored, Santana's mama took the two girls aside, _"Now girls, especially you Santana, I want you to be on your best behaviour, it's very important that you learn when Mr. Morales is here. If you do not, you will be put in to separate classes at preschool and I will make sure of it that it stays the same when you start kindergarten, you MUST learn to speak English. Now go and be good girls for your mamas yes?"_

Brittany and Santana shot each other a quick sideways glance before nodding and pushing the study door open, in the middle of the room two tiny desks had been placed with paper and crayons on them and brightly coloured place cards with their names on either one. The girls couldn't read yet but they both knew their name and took their seats somewhat nervously, Santana had met Mr. Morales before but she was still very shy as she made her way to her seat. Brittany on the other hand, sat down with her usual toothy grin on her face.

"Chicas, buenos días." Mr. Morales had been told that Brittany also spoke Spanish, but needed to learn English and that she would be joining Santana's lessons, he was more than happy to oblige as the last few times he had met Santana she'd been so shy she didn't speak a word, it would be much easier to work around that with a second pupil.

_"Today you're going to draw me some pictures, I'd really like to see what your favourite animals are, then I can teach you to say a little about them in English, how does that sound?"_

Suddenly the confidence Santana had up in her room returned and she smirked at Brittany before replying completely in Dutch, _"That sounds fun Mr. Morales but we can already say plenty about cats and ducks in two different ways."_ To Santana's horror Mr. Morales simply chuckled, _"Kat, eh? Now I'm no expert here but I'm sure Brittany will correct me if I'm wrong when I think that is Dutch for cat? The word is almost the same in English. I already know your favourite animals are ducks Brittany, your mitts are very stylish." _

Brittany looked at Santana beaming, evidently happy her recovered mitts had been noticed and complimented, Santana simply gawked at her _"Now what?"_ she whispered urgently. Brittany didn't even hesitate to reply,_ "Now we speak in your words so he can teach us, I think this might actually be fun!" _Santana didn't look convinced but feeling humiliated after her plan backfired, she simply conceded defeat and picked up her red crayon.

On the Wednesday it was too cold to go to preschool so Santana woke up to find she had her first snow-day, after a messy breakfast (Her eldest brother had been speaking in English all morning to annoy her because she could only understand little bits of what he was saying, and in her frustration she had thrown her pancake at him, showering the breakfast table with blueberry syrup) she begged her mama to take her to Brittany's house because she'd forgotten to tell her something very important.

_"Please Mama! Please!"_ Mrs. Lopez looked down at her youngest child jumping up and down in urgency with her tiny fists clasped tightly together. _"What can possibly be so important that you need to see her at this time in the morning?"_

_"I forgot to tell her about my birthday party tomorrow!"_ by now she looked close to tears and her mama couldn't help but laugh, _"Oh Santana you are something else, imagine forgetting about your own birthday!" _she was about to tell Santana that yes she would take her over to see Brittany but before she could pull her rubber gloves off Santana had already raced out to the car with her mitts in one hand and a folded piece of paper in the other hand.

As her brothers' school wasn't shut that day Santana had to wait an agonizing fifteen minutes while they were dropped off before they began the drive to Brittany's house, to Santana it felt like hours and as soon as the car stopped she struggled to unfasten her seat belt and wriggle out of her booster chair.

_"Calm down Santana her house isn't going to grow legs and walk away in the time it takes me to open the child locks."_ When her door was finally opened Santana jumped down, almost falling over as her feet gripped the snow that lay thick on the ground, _"Be careful!"_ her mama warned before taking her hand and leading her towards the Pierce's front door.

Brittany had been watching the snow out the window with longing (she wasn't allowed to go out and play until after lunch) and had seen Santana's car pull up, she had recognized the sticker on the back window instantly ("Baby on board" with a wobbly red cross through the "Baby" which a horrified Santana had scrawled there within an hour of learning what that particular English word meant) and ran down the stairs as fast as she could to open the door for Santana and her mother.

However she was too small to open their front door and had to wait for her mother to open it for her, as soon as she did Santana, who had been facing away from the doorway talking to her mama, turned round a little too quickly and tripped over the threshold. The two parents held their breath while they waited to see if Santana would cry, but she simply scowled at her own feet as though they were at fault as Brittany hauled her friend upright.

"Good morning Mrs. Pierce, sorry to bother you so early but Santana has something important to tell Brittany and I figured you'd be up anyway as the phone call about their preschool being shut today only went out just over an hour ago." She said all this without stopping to breath, clearly worried that she and Santana were intruding on the Dutch family's morning routine in some way. Brittany's mother simply smiled and beckoned them in," That's quite all right, won't you have a coffee with me? Though I'm afraid all we have is de-caff until after my due date next week. The girls can go up to Brittany's room." Santana's mother smiled, "Yes that would be nice."

As soon as the door was closed the two girls raced up the stairs on all fours, giggling when Santana slipped down a few steps because she still had her mitts on. They burst in to Brittany's room excitedly, Santana tore off her jacket and mitts, impatient to give Brittany the red and pink piece of paper folded up in her hand. _"This is for you"_ She smiled her biggest smile and Brittany couldn't help but smile back even though she had no idea what the other girl was presenting to her.

_"What is it?" _

_"Open it up and see silly!"_ Santana could barely sit still she was so excited for Brittany to see her special invitation. Carefully Brittany unfolded the paper till she was looking at a red birthday invitation with cats all over it, the kind you buy from the store in packs, but it was obvious Santana had added her own special touches to Brittany's invitation, there were copious amounts of gold and silver glitter sprinkled around Brittany's name (Santana's mama had to help her with that as Santana could barely write her own name let alone anyone else's) with a bright yellow duck underneath over the bit where it previously said "R.S.V.P".

Brittany squealed with delight and hugged Santana fiercely_, "I love it!"_ Santana bared her teeth in a wide grin _"I don't know what the all the English words mean.. but it's an invitation to my birthday party tomorrow, my Papi got me these to give to you and my cousins and some kid who is a 'family friend' but none of them got ducks or glitter on theirs because they aren't special like you are."_


	3. Chapter 3

**Okay say I KNOW this chapter is way short and I'm really sorry guys but I do have a good reason! Someone mentioned in a review they seem really young and I totally agree, The first couple of chapters were just supposed to be a sort of way for you to see the foundation of their relationship, for want of a better word. They'll be ageing much more rapidly in up-coming chapters but I had this one already formed in my mind so I decided to post this to give you something to read meanwhile ;) Enjoy!**

Santana could barely remember her last birthday but her party this year was one neither her nor Brittany would forget any time soon.

Brittany had stayed the night after everyone else had gone home, and though it was her first time spending the night away from her mother she didn't fuss or cry. Both her and Santana were fast asleep on the sofa by 8pm, not even managing the stay awake to watch the rest of "the Little Mermaid" (Santana's favourite movie).

As they lay under a duvet sucking their thumbs with Santana's head on Brittany's shoulder, the parents of the birthday girl tiptoed to the doorway and watched them for a few minutes.

"_I don't think I've ever seen Santana go to sleep without being told."_ Maria Lopez whispered. Her husband smiled, _"Me neither, but do you know what's even more amazing?" _

"_What's that then?"_

"_She isn't using her blankie."_ Santana hadn't quite grown out of her pink security blanket yet, and would never sleep without it or let anyone else hold it, but now as her father pointed towards the sleeping girls Maria could see it clamped tightly under Brittany's arm.

She smiled and turned away to climb the stairs to her own bed. Santana's father crept over and kissed each girl on the forehead before doing the same, as he left the room Santana yawned in her sleep and buried her face in to Brittany's shoulder, her arms wrapping themselves tightly around Brittany's.

On Saturday a sleepy Santana was woken early and taken down to the living room to choose a DvD to put on.

"_But why Papa? I'm not finished sleeping."_

"_Because Brittany will be here soon and you need to keep her company until her daddy comes to collect her."_ Santana perked up slightly at this but still looked bewildered.

"_But why is she coming so early?"_

"_Because Brittany's little sister was born just over an hour ago and her mom and dad have to do some grown-up stuff before they can take her home. It'll just be easier if Brittany is here meanwhile." _It would have been pointless for him to continuing talking as Santana had broken in to an excited babble of mixed Dutch and Spanish upon hearing the news about Brittany's sister being born. He smiled to himself and went upstairs to fetch Santana's duvet, foreseeing the girls would probably end falling up asleep on the sofa as they had done on Santana's birthday.

When he returned downstairs he found Santana had fallen asleep again with her head on the kitchen table next to the bowl of Lucky Charms he had set out for her earlier. He picked her up carefully so as not to wake her and lay her down on the sofa with her duvet tucked round her.

Just then the doorbell ringing heralded the arrival of Brittany, he made his way quietly to the front door and opened it to see Brittany's father looking very flushed and Brittany herself looking excited with a photograph clutched tightly to her chest.

"Hola Mr. Lopez! This is my baby sister and she is called Katya!" She thrust the polaroid towards him and he grinned both at the tiny red-faced baby in the photo and at Brittany's carefully pronounced English, she had clearly been paying far more attention in their English lessons than Santana had so far.

"Well Brittany, you must be very excited to see her when she gets home? Congratulations by the way Jack, she's beautiful." The proud father beamed in return, "Thank you, she is isn't she? Any way I have to get back to the hospital, thanks again for watching Brittany."

"It's our pleasure, you know Santana and myself are always happy to see her." Brittany skipped inside and waited while Mr. Lopez shut the front door behind them. "Is Santana not awake yet Mr. Lopez?"

"Well she was but she almost fell asleep face first in to her breakfast so she's asleep on the couch just now, I think she picked out a movie for you two to watch, shall I play it?"

"Oh yes please, I'll be careful not to wake her" She gave him a voluminous smile, took his hand and he chuckled as she led him in to his own living room. While he set up the T.V and DvD player Brittany wriggled under the covers and snuggled up to Santana, putting her arms around the smaller girls waist.

"Santana has really pretty hair, doesn't she Mr. Lopez?" She asked, running her small fingers through the cascade of dark hair that was tickling her face.

"She does indeed Brittany, but please, call me Leon."

"Leon Lopez" the small girl giggled slightly before continuing, "I like it, but sorry it's not as pretty as Santana's name, almost but not quite. Everything about Santana is pretty, isn't it Mr. Leon? Like her hair.. and her name.. and her eyes and her.." The rest of her sentence was cut short by a large yawn as she promptly fell asleep, her fingers curling subconsciously around those of Santana.


	4. Chapter 4

**So as I'm from Scotland I'm not familiar at all with the U.S. school system so if any of this seems really incorrect just leave me a review/message about it and I'll fix it asap :) Hope you enjoy this chapter, I've had the idea sitting in my head for a few days now so I'm excited to see you what guys think, tell me what you think especially if you don't like it. I love contructive criticism :) **

It was Brittany and Santana's first day in the First Grade, they had remained more or less the same in kindergarten as they had been in pre-school but now that they were starting "grown-up" school Santana's mama had warned her that if she didn't make friends with the other children too they would think she was mean.

"But mama the other children, THEY'RE the mean ones." This wasn't entirely untrue, in kindergarten Santana had been teased and ridiculed because her pronunciation of English wasn't any where near as precise as Brittany's, and by the time her English had improved to the level of Brittany's they had already decided she was stupid and not worth their time.

"Nonsense Santana, you're just being difficult because you don't want to share Brittany with anyone."

"That's not true." This was actually completely true, she glared at anyone that tried to become between her and her special friend, but Brittany didn't seem to mind that her and Santana were once again somewhat separate from the other children in their class.

"It is but I know you mean well, hurry up and finish your breakfast, the school bus will be here soon." At the mention of the school bus Santana's stomach did a somersault, her brothers had told her some pretty grim tales about what could happen to new kids on the ride to school.

"Is Brittany getting the bus too?"

"No, her parents are dropping her off" Santana felt tears fighting their way to the corners of her eyes. "Why can't I go with Brittany?"

"For heaven's sake mija you can't expect them to drive an extra four blocks just so you can ride to school with Brittany, you're a big girl now you need to act like it." Being told off was too much for Santana and she jumped down from the table, grabbed her backpack and ran in to the front garden to cry. Maria covered her face with her hands and sighed, how was she going to teach Santana to be independent when she relied so heavily on a person other than her family at this age?

Santana was standing at the bus stop just outside her house when she heard footsteps behind her, she hurriedly dried her eyes. Her mama handed her lunch to her then knelt down so they were eye-level with each other, but Santana opened her mouth before Maria could speak and asked:

"Why isn't Papa here? He would take me to school, AND Brittany." Maria was stunned and trying to formulate a reply in her head that a five-year-old would understand when the bus came and Santana hopped on without even looking behind her.

As she trailed up the aisle looking for a free seat she felt her cheeks burning as every eye was on her, by the time she reached the back of the bus she realized the only free seat was in the third row next to a boy with brown hair that looked as though he was in the third grade.

Nervously she lay her bag and tin lunch box on the ground and used two hands to haul herself up before turning away to face the aisle so that the boy who was absent-mindedly staring out the window, didn't think she was trying to bug him.

As soon as she was comfortable though the boy turned around and said "Who are you?" Santana's stomach seemed to plummet to the ground as she answered in a tiny voice "San, Santana." The boy simply smiled and extended his hand to her though, "Hi! I'm Finn, it's my first day." Santana shook his hand and gave him a small smile. "Did you move schools or something?"

"No it's my first day ever, I'm in the First Grade" He puffed his chest out proudly as he said this.

"Really! You look way older.. like a Third-Grader or something."

"Yeah my mumma says I'm way tall for my age, but you're REALLY tiny even for the First Grade, this is your first day too right?" Santana's cheeks felt like they were burning again as she replied hotly, "Yeah it is but I'm not THAT small, and anyway my friend Brittany says I'm small and mighty." Now it was Santana's turn show her pride by folding her arms and pointing her chin upwards, Finn just laughed. "Santana the small and mighty, okay I'll try to remember that one." They smiled awkwardly at each other before looking out the window for the rest of the ride. It wasn't so bad, thought Santana, to ride the bus to school.

As it was the first day the school bus arrived early at Lima Elementary, when Santana jumped down off the bus she waved goodbye to Finn and set off to find Brittany. It wasn't long before she spotted her blonde friend at the gates with both of her parents molly-coddling her with anxious expressions on their face while Katya gurgled from her buggy, for a moment Santana felt a pang of longing but she didn't know what it was she was missing, so she shrugged it off and skipped towards the Dutch family with a smile on her face. Brittany turned and saw her almost immediately and her face broke in to a huge grin, "Hola Santana! Mammy, Daddy, Santana's here!" her parents turned too and like Brittany they also smiled when they saw Santana, they always felt Brittany was that little bit safer when she was with Santana. "Hello there Santana."

"Hello Mr. and Mrs. Pierce, do you like my lunch box?" She turned her lunch box round so that all three of them could see the Hello Kitty design embellished on the front. Brittany squealed and her mother nodded admiringly, "That's lovely Santana, did your mama buy you that especially for today?" At the mention of her mother Santana's face hardened for a moment, but only Brittany noticed such small changes in her expressions and sensed now was not the time to ask.

"No, my Papa gave me it but it was for today yes." Santana was only too pleased when the bell rang and she grabbed Brittany by the hand to drag her in to the playground but Brittany's mother stopped them "Ah, ah!" and she bent down to hug Brittany and kiss both girls on the cheeks. "Behave yourselves you two!"

"We will!" Cried both girls with their fingers crossed in the folds of their pinafores.

Santana's brothers had told her that her first day would be REALLY scary, but mostly she had just found it boring so far, Brittany seemed to be enjoying herself at least, but Santana could tell she was nervous as she didn't let go of Santana's hand for the entire morning and even though Santana could no longer feel any blood circulating her pinkie, she didn't mind. It rained at recess so they stayed inside and chatted animatedly in a corner about Dora the Explorer and how wrong her accent was. As they had expected, none of the other kids spoke to them.

After recess the teacher read some fairytales to the class which bored Santana greatly as they were all about a silly damsel in distress being rescued by a prince with a funny hat. She much preferred the fairytales her Papa read to her before bedtime about dragons and elves, once again though Brittany seemed content enough so Santana kept her distaste to herself. Afterwards the teacher announced they were going to be drawing, Santana and Brittany were both excited by this, armed with brand-new packs of crayons and felt-tip pens they felt more than prepared to tackle any drawing exercises as they had so much practice on Santana's bedroom wall (before her mother had discovered their doodling that is, and sent Brittany home early).

"Now class, I want you all to imagine if you were in a fairytale, what your prince or princess would look like and draw them" all the boys, except Finn and Kurt scoffed but picked up their crayons anyway. The class hurriedly set to work scribbling and colouring furiously. Their teacher walked round the class slowly looking at everyone's drawing, some of them were pretty typical, some made her laugh. Puck seemed to have drawn a princess with a pram. Quinn had drawn your typical prince charming complete with crown and sword, while Tina had opted for a prince with pointy teeth and gray clothing.

When she reached Santana and Brittany's table, she was confused. Brittany had drawn what was clearly Santana singing in to what could only be a microphone. When she looked to Santana's paper she saw a colourful depiction of Brittany in a park feeding a duck.

"Girls, you were supposed to draw your ideal prince." The girls looked up, startled. "You said prince OR princess." Santana pointed out.

"Yes because there are boys in the class, you're girls" (Well noticed, thought Santana) "You can't draw princesses, especially not each other"

"Why not?" Brittany chirped.

"Because if you're a girl you can't marry a princess." Both girls looked highly confused by this point, Santana continued her defiance bravely.

"Says who? My Papa told me you're supposed to marry someone you want to spend the rest of your life with, I don't want to do that with anyone that isn't Brittany."

"It's not the same, Brittany's not a boy Santana." Santana looked up at her teach as if she was crazy.

"I know that! But-"

"No buts, I wont make you start over but if you girls don't do what you're told next time you want get to join in the colouring activities." With that she returned to her desk to write something down.

Santana was shocked by what had just happened, she turned to her left to see Brittany looking down at her hands which were trembling, while obviously trying to hold back tears. Santana took her hand and whispered _"I don't like first grade very much so far." _

_ "Me neither."_


	5. Chapter 5

**Had my first day of College yesterday, so I'll be pretty busy for the next wee while but I'll update whenever I can, I always feel extra creative when I read new reviews c; Enjoy!**

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First Grade had passed for the girls in a most unremarkable manner, much to Brittany's disappointment and Santana's relief. Their teacher had continued showing her distaste for the nature of Brittany and Santana's friendship, confusing both girls to no end.

When Brittany had explained to her parents why her teacher didn't like her they had simply reassured her that they were doing nothing wrong and that some people just weren't smart like Brittany was. Santana had received mixed reactions from her parents, her father's most similar to that of Brittany's parents while her mama had given her a stern warning about being too close to other girls. Santana didn't really understand how she, or anyone could be "too close" to their best friend, but she decided not to get in to an argument about it.

It was the last Saturday night before they started Second Grade and Santana was staying over at Brittany's house, she always loved staying at Brittany's house because the Pierce family meals actually included the entire family so they were always much more noisy and fun. Most nights Santana closed her eyes while the food was being handed out and pretended she was a part of the family too.

On this particular night they were ordering in and the girls were out in the garden on Brittany's trampoline waiting for the food to arrive.

_"I can't believe it's dark already and we've not even had dinner."_ Said Brittany.

_"I can't believe we're starting school again on Monday, I wish it was still summer."_

_"Me too, but maybe Second Grade will be better than the First was."_

_"As long as we get a new teacher then it'll be a million times better."_ Santana had something of a personal vendetta against their first elementary school teacher.

_"Daddy says we'll be getting some new kids in our class too."_

_"Really? Mama says if we don't make friends with the other kids this year they'll hate us until high school."_ replied Santana, picking at the plastic at the edge of the trampoline.

_"Well we can be friends with them and not actually play with them... right?"_

_"I think Mama wants me to bring some other friends round to my house too."_ Brittany tensed up on hearing this. _"Why? Doesn't she like me?"_

_"Of course she likes you, everyone does. She's just weird. She's been kind of funny about me and you being friends ever since we started elementary school, she never did tell me why she got a phone call from the school on our first day."_ Both girls looked thoughtful for a minute then turned round to lie on their backs.

_"Hey San look! There are stars out!"_ Brittany was pointing wildly at the dark sky above her where hundreds of tiny white lights were now visible. Santana smiled anxiously and looked sideways at Brittany.

"Brittany?"

"Yeah?"

"We'll be friends forever, right?"

"For longer than forever." the blonde girl reached over and linked their pinkies together as she said this.

"Promise?"

Brittany dropped back in to Spanish to show how serious she was_ "I, Brittany Susan Pierce, hereby promise that Santana Carmen Anjelita Lopez will always be my bestest friend, forever and ever. And beyond."_

Just then Brittany's father called to let them know the pizza had arrived, the girls took one last fleeting look at the stars and each other before racing towards the house as fast as their legs would carry them.

After they had demolished an entire pizza between the two of them and secretly listened in on Katya's bed time story the girls stood on Brittany's toy box to see out the slanted window in her room (Brittany slept in the loft which had been converted when they first moved in) and at the stars again.

They stood like that with their arms crossed and leaning on the wooden sill for ten minutes without saying a word. It wasn't awkward at all, it was comfortable and content. Santana was the first to break the silence, "Hey Brit?"

"Yeah?"

"What do you want to be when you grow up?"

"I don't know, really rich?" the blonde girl replied with a giggle. Santana was quiet once more and after another minute of silence jumped down and slipped in to bed. It didn't take long for Brittany to join her and they lay there cuddling for warmth for the best part of an hour while talking and laughing about the simplest things.

Just as she was about to fall asleep it occurred to Brittany that she hadn't asked what Santana wanted to be when she grew up, "San? What do YOU want to be when you grow up?"

"Hmm." Santana was thoughtful for a moment but when she opened her mouth to reply she saw that Brittany had fallen asleep. So Santana whispered her reply anyway and lay her head against Brittany's, _"With you."_

On Monday Brittany insisted on riding the school bus with Santana instead of being dropped off by her parents, adding a great deal of excitement to the already nervous girls. As they got on the bus Santana realized Brittany's mom was still holding her lunch box, "Go ahead and find a seat Brit, I'll be right there."

"Okay!"

By the time Santana had retrieved the lunch box another flurry of kids had pushed past her on to the bus, she noticed that nice boy Finn amongst them and relaxed a little, then started making her way to the back of the bus where she was sure she'd seen Brittany sit down.

When she did find Brittany however she was enraged to see some mousy little girl with the biggest hands Santana had ever seen on another girl and a dark purple slushie, sitting in the seat next to the blonde girl, HER seat. Brittany herself had edged away so she was almost flat against the window, with wide eyes and a scared expression on her face, probably more scared for the strange girl than herself.

"Um, excuse me, you're in my seat." the small girl looked up at Santana with a questioning look.

"Your seat? What do you mean your seat? I was sitting here first." Santana hadn't been prepared for this thing to answer her back, she wasn't well-liked in First Grade but most of the other kids had chosen to give her a wide berth, as though being stupid (in their eyes) was contagious.

"Yeah but it's the seat next to Brittany" She pointed at her friend "and she's MY best friend so it's MY seat. Who are you anyway?"

"My name is Rachel Berry, I'm new and Brittany was just telling me a little about the school" Santana simply looked at Brittany for confirmation, who shook her head rather vigorously causing her blonde locks to bounce about wildly around her face.

"Would you like to try some?" Santana's head snapped back towards the direction of the girl who was now holding her slushie towards Santana with an almost anxious expression on her face. Santana took the drink hesitantly and went to take a sip before Rachel pointed to the seat across the aisle from her and Brittany and stated "And you can sit there." concluding the discussion with a smile.

This was too much for Santana and before she knew what she would doing she was tipping Rachel's own slushie all over her stupid hair-band and ugly sweater. "Oops." Brittany had to bite her hand to keep from bursting in to hysterics. Rachel jumped up and ran down to the front of the bus, her lip trembling. Santana took her seat triumphantly and Brittany leaned over and whispered "That was so cool, I think Second Grade is going to be better than First." Santana smiled smugly to herself and took Brittany's pinkie, "Yeah, me too."

When Santana got home from school that day her mama called her in to the living room where she was sitting down and looking quite furious. "Mama?"

"Sit down Santana." Santana did as she was told, fidgeting slightly as a funny feeling she recognized as guilt formed itself in the bottom of her stomach. Her mother continued in a scarily quiet voice, "Your principal called me today to inform me that you had been throwing drinks over another student, what do you have to say for yourself on the matter?"

"But Mama it was just one drink, I didn't mean to, I just didn't think and I got so mad when she wouldn't let me sit next to Brittany on the bus-"

"Brittany! It's always Brittany this and Brittany that! Whenever you've been bad it's because 'I was helping Brittany' or 'They were mean to Brittany first' or even 'They were trying to steal Brittany away from me' It's just not on Santana!" Her mama looked livid by this point and Santana struggled not to cry.

"Don't bother with the waterworks Santana, you spend far too much time with that girl and she is clearly a bad influence on you. It has to stop."

"No! Mama she's my best friend!"

"And yet she always gets you in to trouble"

"No she doesn't it's my fault not hers!"

"It doesn't matter Santana, I've made up my mind, you're going to get a hobby other than spending time with Brittany, I've left some fliers and things on the coffee table for you to look at. Once you've chosen you can tell your father or myself which one you want to do."

Santana slowly got to her feet and gathered up the leaflets, before bursting in to tears and running all the way up the stairs to her room.

Some hours later Leon made his way to Santana's room and knocked gently, "Santana darling? Can I come in?" he heard a small squeak which he took to mean yes and entered. Santana was sprawled on the floor with the leaflets spread around her, her eyes looked sore and red and her hair was tangled where she seemed to have pulled at it in frustration. "Hi Papa."

"Have you chosen one yet?" Santana looked up at him with big brown eyes full of woe.

"Do you agree with Mama's decision?"

"I don't think it would do any good to argue." He knelt down and thumbed through the booklets.

"They all look boring, they're all sports or church clubs. Church is so boring."

"What about dancing?" Leon asked with a twinkle in his eyes.

"I'm not any good, it doesn't matter what I choose, it'll be terrible without Brittany there" She hung her head in defeat.

"Oh I think you might like it if you learnt to dance." Something in the tone of his voice made Santana look up at him.

"Why?" she asked cautiously.

"Oh I don't know, though I did run in to Brittany's dad at the store and he seemed to think Brittany would enjoy a dancing class. But don't tell your Mama I said that, she might think I'm... influencing you." With that he stood up and winked at Santana before returning down stairs.

Santana picked up the dance class flier and suddenly it seemed to be very brightly coloured and appealing.


	6. Chapter 6

**I'm slacking with updates I know! I'm trying to find the time to get all these ideas (believe me I have a LOT so don't worry) in my head written up whilst keeping up with college homework, which is mostly writing as well. Like I said though, I have lots of ideas to use so if I don't update for a few days it doesn't mean I wont post again, just gotta be patient lovelys :)**

**R&R and mostly importantly, enjoy!**

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On their first day of dance class Brittany and Santana (she'd told her mama the school bus went past the dance studio after school) were standing outside the studio wrapped head to toe in woollen clothing feeling rather foolish and incredibly shy.

Brittany's mother Lena was watching a few feet away rocking Katya's buggy with one foot while tapping out a steady rhythm with the other, signalling she was as anxious as the two girls who were conversing in Spanish in hushed whispers. Always so secretive, Lena thought, unlike Santana's mama however, she found it endearing.

It wasn't long before a flurry of other girls began arriving in cars and buses, almost each and every one of them was decked out in leotards and jazz shoes with only duffel coats or similar to shield them from the cold. Santana began to feel that burning sensation in her cheeks again as she shuffled nervously in her worn sneakers and pulled at the gym shorts she was wearing underneath her winter clothing. Brittany seemed to be feeling the same way and grabbed Santana's hand, gripping it tightly.

_"I'm scared."_

"English in class, Brittany." her mother reminded her

_"But I was only talking to Santana"_

"Yes but you promised you'd practice" Brittany rolled her eyes at this.

"Mom, I'm like fluent" she replied in an exasperated tone.

Lena lowered her voice "Yes, you are, but Santana isn't and I know she's still getting teased for it at school and we don't want that do we?"

"No." Brittany grumbled slightly and looked at her feet. Santana felt embarrassed that Brittany's mom had noticed she was still having some problems with English when she was almost eight-years-old, but she was also secretly pleased that she cared so much.

Just then the doors to the dance studio opened and a young woman of around twenty-four greeted the waiting crowd and gestured that they could go inside. Santana turned and looked at Brittany's mother with scared eyes while Brittany herself was looking closely at the other girls.

"You'll be fine honey, just make sure Brittany behaves herself" Lena said with a wink. This caused Brittany to turn round and exclaim "Hey!" as Santana gave a small giggle. Lena leaned down and pulled both girls in to a hug before reminding Katya (who was half asleep by this point) to wave goodbye, with that they were on their own.

Both girls took a deep breath and looked at each other, _"You'll be fine, we'll be fine"_ Said Brittany. Santana smiled weakly and gripped Brittany's hand firmly. _"I know."_

The first half hour was mostly typical warm-up exercises, Brittany didn't seem to have any issues but Santana had some difficulty focusing on what the teacher was telling them. The more she tried to concentrate on what Miss Perez was saying the more she found herself distracted by how pretty the teacher was. She'd never liked any teacher before but she felt drawn to this one in a way she couldn't quite explain.

When Santana tripped over her own foot for the third time Brittany nudged her and whispered "Are you okay? You seem a little out of it."

_"I, I'm fine"_

"English" the blonde girl prompted.

"Sorry, I'm fine, just a little tired after school."

"Do you want to sleep over at mine tonight? You always sleep better in my bed."

"I can't, Mama wants me home as soon as this finishes." Their conversation was interrupted by Miss Perez reprimanding them for talking while she was trying to show the class a step, Santana blushed and turned away from Brittany. "Sorry Miss." both girls mumbled in quick unison.

When Santana was dropped off round the corner from her house (she had told her Mama she would get the bus home with the older girls in her class) she felt exhausted but very happy. She had discovered she actually really liked dancing, she got to learn it with her best friend and on top of that her Mama would stop being mad at her all the time so long as she didn't find out Brittany was taking the class too. Life was good.

It snowed heavily the week of Santana's birthday, which she was only too pleased about as the big day was on a Monday which meant she would have been at school if the weather had been better. Having a full week of snow-days however, meant she could stay the night at Brittany's. Having the sleepover at her own house this year, was out of the question.

_"But Mama, it's my birthday, don't I get a present?"_

Maria inhaled slowly before answering _"Of course you do Santana, we're paying for another year of dance lessons, that's your present."_

_"But I didn't even ask to go to dance classes in the first place, you made me."_ She didn't feel mentioning the fact she absolutely loved dance classes would help her plight so she left that fact out. She did however, add another argument _"If Papa was here he'd let Brittany stay"_

_"Well he's not, he wont be back from his business trip for at least another week. Look Santana, I have a lot of paperwork to do for the end of the week and I just can't concentrate with you noisy girls around the house, the answer is no and that's final."_

_"Can, can I stay at Brittany's house then?"_

_"For heaven's sake mija do whatever you like as long as you're out the house!"_ With that Maria stormed in to the kitchen presumably to pour herself a glass of wine as she usually did after an argument with her daughter. Santana ran up the stairs to pack her bag, it was only Sunday but she was too excited about spending her birthday at the Pierce's house she couldn't wait.

After she had finished packing she crept quietly down the stairs to call Brittany's house, her best friend's mother picked up the phone, "Hello, this is Lena Pierce"

"Hi there Lena."

"Oh hello there Santana! Shall I get Brittany for you?" this gave Santana that awful feeling where she smiled broadly but felt like crying, she never understood why she felt like this with Brittany's mom. If she spoke English when calling her own house her Mama would never recognise it was Santana first time round.

"Yeah I guess but I need to talk to you too, Brittany might have mentioned it's my birthday tomorrow?" the young girl asked hopefully.

"I remember, is Brittany staying over like usual?"

"That's the thing... my Mama says I'm not allowed her over because she has work stuff to do."

"Oh I see, I'm sorry to hear that. So you'd like to stay the night here?" Santana dug her fingers in to her leg to stop herself sounding scared, "Uhm, yeah.. is, is that okay?"

"Santana, you're like family, you're always welcome in our house. Always. And especially on your birthday! I'll go tell Brittany to make sure her room is tidy. Do you want to talk to her now?"

"Uh, no it's okay it's kind of late. Just tell her I'll be there after dinner time"

"Will do San"

"Thanks Lena"

"Anytime sweetheart."

Click.

The next day Santana arrived at the Pierce's at 6pm as she knew they usually had dinner an hour beforehand. She rang the doorbell once and waited, examining the flowers in the basket hanging next to the door. Red. She smiled.

It wasn't long before Jack answered the door, he wished her a Happy Birthday and ushered her inside, it was very dark which was unusual for Brittany's house. It was always bright, even at night the hall lights were left on because Brittany told her parents she was afraid of the dark (actually she wasn't but Santana was very much afraid of the dark).

This evening however the only light came in the form a small chink from underneath the dining room door. "Go on in" Jack said gesturing towards the door.

"I, I thought you'd have eaten already, I didn't mean to interrupt."

"It's okay, just go in." he was chuckling slightly at how overly polite Santana always was. Santana pushed the door open and was immediately met with the sights and sounds of streamers and the rest of the Pierce family in sparkly party hats whooping and cheering while a cake in the shape of a cat's face was sat in the middle of the dining table which was adorned with a red table cloth for the occasion.

"Happy Birthday San" Brittany was at her side holding a carefully (by Brittany's standards) wrapped present out to her. Santana took it with trembling hands and pulled gently at the yellow ribbon holding the paper together. Underneath was a box, and in the box she discovered a pair of pure white jazz shoes. They were the same ones Brittany's daddy had bought her when they had started dance class a few weeks ago, Santana had had to make do with her old sneakers until now.

"Now we can match! All the other girls in the class have black ones." Santana looked up and tried to say Thank You but burst in to tears instead.

_"Momma, why is Santy crying?"_ Katya was tugging at her mom's trouser leg with a confused expression on her face, Lena bent down and whispered in her ear "Because she's happy."

Brittany didn't bat an eyelid at her friend's reaction to her gift and simply led Santana gently by the arm to the table and everyone sat.

After a moment Santana wiped her eyes and realized Jack was lighting the candles on the cake, HER cake. She hadn't had a birthday cake in so long, her Papa was usually away at this time of year and her Mama maintained the idea that birthday cakes were for babies. She almost started crying again but then she would feel REALLY pathetic, and instead groped for Brittany's hand under the table.

"Make a wish Santana." She looked around, panicking slightly, not able to choose a wish. There were so many things she wished were different. Then suddenly she knew what she wished for most: _I wish this was my family_.

Each and every candle was extinguished with one breath.


	7. Chapter 7

**There's a lot of Spanish/Dutch in this chapter (as you'll see from the huge block of italics ;) ) and also some speech mixing the languages with English, obviously the words spoken in English are not in italics but if you feel it doesn't work well or that it's confusing please let me know so I can sort something out for future chapters :)**

**Enjoy!**

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A little over a week later Santana was in her room reading her Dutch to English dictionary when she heard a car pull up in the drive-way. It was late therefore she knew straight away it would be her Papa returning home from his business trip so she lay her book down on her bedside table and waited for the sound of the front door being carefully opened and closed before walking over to her bedroom door and opening it a crack. It wasn't long before she could hear her parents arguing as they always did when Leon Lopez got home from a business trip.

_"I don't understand your problem, you love your job!"_ she heard her mother shouting.

_"I do but I hate being away all the fucking time and never seeing my kids! It's like you don't want me around them!"_ Santana was shocked, her Papa never swore.

_"We need the money Leon."_

_"No, YOU need the money."_

_"It's not just about the money, if you were home all the time you'd suffocate Santana, she needs to learn some independence from that Dutch girl. She'll never learn that with you around."_

_"Have you lost your mind? She is my daughter as well Maria, when exactly did we decide it was a bad thing for Santana to have a close friend like Brittany? They're good for each other."_

_"Mark my words Leon she'll lead our little girl astray, just you wait."_

_"She's seven-years-old Maria! How exactly is she going to lead Santana astray?"_

_"Just wait, just you wait. You'll see."_ Leon was shaking his head.

_"I'm going to bed Maria."_ Neither of them said another word and Santana hurriedly leapt back on to her bed and under the covers with her tearing eyes squeezed shut.

After a few moments Santana heard her Papa look in on her brothers' room down the hall, then a minute later her own door was slowly opened and she knew her father could tell she was awake.

He walked over and sat on her bed and simply opened his arms wide and in the blink of an eye Santana was hugging him fiercely while the tears poured on to his suit jacket.

_"Happy Birthday San, I'm sorry I didn't call, I just had so much to do."_

_"It's okay Papa.. I know."_

_"Did you have a good birthday?"_ Santana paused before answering.

_"It was the best one ever, or it would have been if you had been there. I missed you."_

_"I missed you too sweetheart."_ He hugged his only daughter tightly before breaking the embrace to look her in the eyes. _"How was Mama?"_ Santana tensed, pausing again before replying.

_"She was fine, she was just fine."_

Meanwhile several blocks away Brittany and Katya were sitting on Katya's bedroom floor playing with the giant doll house she'd received for her birthday.

_"Brittany, can you teach me some more English words please?"_ Katya adored her big sister and consequently she learned most of her English from Brittany. Brittany loved her little sister just as much and was only too happy to oblige. _"Sure! What about..._ rainbow_?"_

_"Uh Momma told me that one aaaages ago."_

_"Hmmm okay, how about _fireworks_?"_

_"Nah I know that one too._" Katya was clearly a keener student than Santana and Brittany had been at her age and it made the older girl smile at the memory of Santana refusing to use the English word for "cat" at kindergarten because she said it was a copy of the Dutch word. Brittany thought hard for a moment before saying, _"Aha! What about '_love'_?"_

Katya shook her head at last, _"I don't know that one."_

"Love _is like_ liefde _or_ liefhebben."

"_So like..._ 'I love Momma and Daddy and Brittany?'"

_"Yeah, like that, the noun and the verb are the same."_

_"What's a verb?"_ Brittany chuckled, remembering she should keep things simpler for Katya.

_"Never mind, you get the idea._ 'I love, you love, he, she, we, it loves. _You add an S on the end for _she, he _and_ it. _But_ 'They' _and_ 'We' _is without the S. Get it?_" Katya paused to digest the information.

"_I think so... but what about with a name?_ 'Momma love us' _or_ 'Momma loves us?'

"_With a name you also add an S_." Katya paused again to think.

"_So..._ Brittany loves Santy? And she loves Brittany? And they love Katya?" Brittany smiled broadly. _"_Yeah Katya, we love Santana very much, and she loves us too." Sadly their lesson was cut short as Jack called up the stairs it was almost bedtime and they had to brush their teeth.

The next morning breakfast in the Lopez household was unusually tense and polite. Santana looked down at her waffles mostly and didn't speak. Most of the conversation went on between Leon and Santana's two brothers who were discussing their plans for college next year, Santana didn't join in. The somewhat large age gap between her and her siblings hadn't given them much in common so she wasn't particularly close with either of the twins.

Then the table was quiet for a few minutes, until Maria surprised everyone by announcing she would collect Santana from the dance studio after her class that evening. Panic suddenly filled Santana's stomach like a block of iron. _"No Mama!"_

_"And why not?"_ Santana tried hard to think of an excuse quickly.

_"The other girls will tease me if I don't get the bus with them."_ Leon was studying his daughter's reaction intensely, it had been his idea in the first place to take dance lessons to spend time with Brittany without Maria knowing but seeing how stressed Santana was now he regretted the decision, wishing he had instead stood up to his wife about Santana and Brittany's friendship.

_"Nonsense mija"_ Maria was now saying _"I just want to have a little chat with your teacher."_ Santana was angry as well as worried now.

_"Why? It's not like you cared before!"_ Santana was up on her seat shouting now.

_"San, calm down"_ Leon placed a hand on his daughter's shoulder and she turned to him with tear-filled eyes _"It's not fair Papa she always has to ruin everything"_

_"You're being ridiculous Santana, I'm taking an interest in your hobby and you think I'm trying to 'ruin' it, how do you think that makes me feel?" _Santana sat down, her cheeks burning and eyes itching. She looked sideways at her brothers and saw that Joseph was looking down at his steepled fingers with a look of guilt and embarrassment on his face. Then it clicked and Santana was up on her chair again. _"YOU!" _she pointed her finger at her brother, fuming _"You told Mama Brittany is in my dance class! I hate you! I hate you, I hate you, I hate you!"_ neither of her brothers said anything, they didn't need to.

Leon also looked angry now, _"Boys, up to your room."_

_"Dad! We're not kids!"_

_"NOW!"_ their father rarely shouted so both boys took it he meant business and scarpered with Santana's angry glare following them out the room.

_"Maria"_ his voice was calm again_ "What exactly are you planning to say to Miss Perez?"_

_"I'm taking Santana out the class."_

_"No Mama!"_ Santana was once again standing on her chair. _"San, sit down."_

_"Yes I am."_

_"Why are you doing this to us?"_ Santana's Papa silently signalled for Santana to leave the room. Santana knew her Papa wouldn't let her Mama stop her dance classes so she did as she was told.

Once their daughter was out of earshot Leon continued _"This isn't just about Santana, this is about us."_

_"Maybe it is, maybe it isn't."_

_"We're going to see a marriage counsellor, that's final."_ With that he walked out the room, picked up Santana who was sitting by the stairs, and left to find the nearest ice-cream parlour.

They always went to the same place to get ice-cream so when Leon started driving in the opposite direction Santana was a little confused _"Papa, we're going the wrong way?"_

_"Oh we have a little detour to make first"_ It wasn't long before they pulled up outside Brittany's house, Santana was too exhausted after the argument to make the effort for Brittany's parents so she stayed in the car while her Papa went to the door, out the window Santana could see Leon laughing and joking with Lena before Brittany scrambled out the door, stopping only to hastily kiss Lena and Katya on the cheek, Katya looked for Santana in the car and waved frantically from her mother's shoulder. Santana gave a small smile and waved back.

A few moments later Santana's door was flung open and Brittany launched herself over Santana and in to the seat next to her. "Hey San!"

"Hey Brit" Santana's smile was much broader now and Leon, who had been watching the interaction between the two girls in the rear-view mirror smiled for the first time in days.

"Me and Katya drew you a picture last night, well, she did the drawing and I did the words." She thrust a slightly crumpled piece of a paper in to Santana's hands and Santana unfolded it with great excitement, what she saw caused the iron block in her stomach to disappear completely.

Katya had drawn her new doll house but instead of dolls inhabiting the rooms there were three small figures clearly intended to be her, Santana and Brittany. Each room and piece of furniture had been labelled with its name in Dutch, Spanish and English in Brittany's curly handwriting. Underneath the three girls however, scrawled in Katya's spiky writing was written: "We love."

"I guess that was her new word last night?" Santana queried.

"Yeah, she got it right first time though"

"Yeah, very right."


	8. Chapter 8

**So I read that Heather Morris said we would figure out Brittany's surname in the Brittany/Britney episode, do you think I should edit it in to my fic when that airs or just keep the one I'm using? :p Well anyway, here's chapter 8! R/R&Enjoy!**

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The weeks and months running up to Christmas flew past for both families, Santana spent both Halloween and Bonfire night with Brittany and Katya; although Maria disliked the Dutch family she was ready to spend less time restricting her daughter and more time rejuvenating her marriage.

Two weeks before Christmas however, Leon had a not-so-welcome announcement to make over dinner that evening.

"I have some good news and some bad news everyone." Santana stopped playing with her food and looked up apprehensively. "What is it Papa?"

"Well" he looked at his wife as he spoke "I've received a promotion at work." Maria Lopez jumped up from her chair; squealing with excitement, "Oh darling that's amazing!" Leon visibly flinched at being addressed so lovingly by his wife, but she didn't seem to notice.

"But?" Leon returned his gaze to his daughter who was looking at him reproachfully; he took a deep breath before answering, "But it means I'll have to be in Saudi Arabia over Christmas and possibly New Year as well." Both parents and both brothers waited for Santana to explode with anger or implode with tears but she simply deflated slightly, and quietly excused herself from the table.

The next morning Santana woke up very early; dressed warmly and brushed her hair firmly in to place before picking up the bag she took to dance classes. Knowing her father always arose early she made her away down to the kitchen, as she expected he was sitting at the breakfast table reading the paper with a glass of orange juice in front of him.

_"I'm going to Brittany's, I'll be back for dinner."_ Leon looked up on hearing her voice, surprised anyone else was awake at this time "San, wait-" but she was already shutting the front door behind her with a resounding slam.

As she walked through the dim streets she hummed quietly to herself, taking in the sights, sounds and smells she usually missed because she was still asleep. By the time she reached the Pierce's front door the sun had almost fully risen. Santana suddenly felt nervous about appearing on their doorstep so early but then she heard Brittany jabbering a loud to herself in 'Sputch' before wrenching the door open, "Hey San! I was up getting a glass of milk and I saw you out the window. It's way early."

"Hey Brit, yeah I know I'm sorry... I couldn't sleep." Brittany stifled a yawn as she ushered Santana in over the doorstep. "It's okay silly, you can come back to bed with me."

"Yeah okay." The two girls locked their fingers together and climbed the stairs to Brittany's room. When they entered Santana noticed Katya fast asleep on the bed; sucking her thumb. "She had a nightmare" Brittany explained, reading Santana's thoughts as usual. "She's so cute when she's asleep, I can't believe she starts Kindergarten next year. Can you believe we were ever that small?"

"Not really, but you're still pretty tiny." Brittany giggled.

"Am not!" Santana flung a pillow in Brittany's direction but she ducked and it landed on Katya's head, the two older girls held their breath but Katya simply turned over in her sleep and gave a little sigh.

"She's worse than you, it's like impossible to wake you up when you're properly asleep." said Brittany.

"I don't really feel like sleeping right now, can we do something else or are you too sleepy?"

"No it's okay, sharing a bed with Katya kind of sucks anyway, she takes all the covers... sometimes I wonder if there was a mix-up and she's actually your sister."

"Hey!" Santana picked up another pillow and soon they were engaged in a very active pillow fight which ended with Brittany jumping on to the banister on the stairs and Santana sliding down after her; both girls were tangled in a heap at the bottom laughing and trying to tickle each other when Lena appeared at the top of the stairs looking very confused. When the girls saw her they abruptly stopped, hurriedly standing up with their pillows behind their backs.

"Girls, do you know what time it is?" Santana and Brittany both bowed their heads waiting a row.

"Breakfast time! Go wake your sister Brit, me and my best bud Santana here haven't had a girly chat in ages." Santana grinned broadly and dropped her pillow.

"She's MY best bud!" but Brittany was smiling and already running back up the stairs to wake Katya. Lena walked down the stairs to Santana and the little girl extended her arms out in front of her; they embraced tightly as the woman whispered "Hey sweetheart, you want to talk about it?"

Santana noticed she was crying on Lena's shoulder but shook her head, "Just the usual."

During breakfast Katya announced she wanted to go and feed the ducks because when she passed the park yesterday they looked hungry. "Okay sweetie we'll go after breakfast, do you two want to come as well?" Brittany and Santana looked at each other before replying in unison: "We're too old to feed the ducks." Lena chuckled, "Oh nonsense, you're never too old to feed the ducks."

"Well I was kinda hoping Brittany would help me with some dance steps I'm having trouble with." Santana replied.

"We can go in an hour then, that's enough time isn't it?" Brittany smiled, she secretly still loved feeding the ducks and knew Santana did too, as much as she tried to hide it. "Yeah that's cool." After an exhausting forty minutes practising in Brittany's room the girls collapsed on to her bed to recover.

"I think you've got it perfectly now San," said Brittany, the first to catch her breath.

"Well I got the best teacher" Santana replied with a smile.

"'I have the best teacher', not 'I got'" Brittany corrected teasingly.

"Oh shush you know I meant that, do I have to tickle you again?" Santana pretended to be scary and bared her teeth. "No!" Brittany shrieked as Santana grabbed her and they rolled on to the floor struggling to breath again but this time because they were laughing so hard. "San! Please, I can't, breath, San!" Santana finally relented and both girls sat against the bed wiping the tears of mirth from their eyes. "Okay sorry, I won't do it again for the rest of the day."

"Do you promise?"

"Eh... no!" Santana replied with a wicked grin on her face; throwing herself at Brittany once more and causing the blonde to scream Spanish profanities (Santana figured Brittany spent too much time with the twins when she stayed over and Santana fell asleep early).

"Girls, no murdering each other before we've even been to the park please!" Lena called up the stairs; Santana reluctantly disengaged herself from Brittany and they made their way down to the car.

While Lena strapped Katya in to her booster chair behind the driver's seat, Santana sat next to the other back window with Brittany in the middle. The foursome had to sit still for five minutes with the engine on while the car 'defrosted itself' as Katya put it. When they finally pulled out of the driveway Brittany asked why they were going so slowly:

"Because it's icy and if I drive too fast we might get in to an accident."

"Oh, okay" satisfied Brittany sank back in to her seat and watched Santana drawing shapes in the condensation on her window. "What are you drawing San?" "A cat." Of course. "What's that it's chasing?" Santana turned round and smirked "A duck." Brittany was about to scowl and say that the cat was mean but suddenly the car skidded to the left.

"Shit! Is everyone okay?"

"We're fine, what was that Mom?" Brittany asked.

"It must have been some Black Ice."

"Ice isn't black Momma" chirped Katya.

"She means it's invisible" added Santana.

"I think maybe we should leave the car and walk girls, it's too dangerous to drive on the roads when they're like this."

"But it's cold" whined Brittany.

Meanwhile in another car a stressed looking mother was repeatedly checking her watch while her son clicked his tongue in the passenger seat next to her. "Will you stop that while I'm trying to drive?" the boy rolled his eyes "If you stop speeding."

"I'm only doing thirty, since when were you the expert Mr I-still-wet-the-bed-after-watching-scary-movies?"

"Since it's a twenty zone" he replied, unperturbed by the embarrassing nickname. "It's too early for anyone else to be about anyway, just hush Artie or we're going to be late to the dentist's." he was about to argue again but suddenly his mother was screaming and he was plunged in to darkness.

When the impact occurred Brittany had been bending over to tie her shoelaces, the other car had crashed in to Santana's door throwing the blonde girls's head in to the metal casing of Katya's booster chair. Brittany heard a sickening crack as Katya's head hit the window and the little girl was knocked out cold. The pain in Brittany's head was overwhelming, it was drowning her, suffocating her, blinding her; with great difficulty she looked up to see her mother slumped forward on the steering wheel where the airbag had failed to deploy.

As she willed herself to stay conscious her stomach suddenly felt as thought it had filled with ice. She was sitting in the middle. Santana was in the car. She could hear screaming but it was distant and it didn't sound like her friend at all. Mustering as much energy as she could she twisted her body round to face Santana, if she could she would have screamed: Santana's door had been bent inwards, shattering the glass which had left tens of furious tiny slits on the other girl's face, Brittany's eyes followed the blood as it gathered in a stream running down her arm which was wedged between the door and the seat.

"Mom! Mom!" Brittany had found her voice through panic but her mother either couldn't hear her or couldn't reply. Suddenly the screaming she had heard earlier started again, she turned her head to the direction in which it was coming from and her blood ran cold. Through the naked frame where Santana's window had been, past the blue Sedan which had crashed in to them, she could see a third vehicle in the distance, moving very quickly and very erratically.

She felt like she was dying, the pain in her head was getting worse and she could smell her own blood, but she had to stay awake for her family members. For all three of them. She looked back to Katya, there was blood trickling down her neck from the wound on her head but she was breathing and her face kept contorting in to expressions of pain and confusion so she was at least conscious to a degree. Her mother also seemed to be coming round, Brittany didn't see any blood on her and relaxed ever so slightly. Then she turned back to Santana, and she realized if the oncoming vehicle joined the collision Santana's door would crush her. Looking past her and out the broken window again Brittany could see the car was only a few hundred yards away and clearly out of control on the Black Ice.

"San, please wake up, please. You have to move" Santana didn't stir. "Santana!" Brittany began crying furiously, but then adrenaline took over and she fumbled with Santana's seatbelt, silently praying as it came undone with no difficulties. Brittany tried to heave her friend's unconscious body on to her lap and away from the bent door. She tugged and pulled at Santana's waist but while Santana was a good few inches smaller than Brittany she was still pretty heavy, Brittany screamed out in frustration. "I'm so sorry San, I can't do it, I can't save you." tears cascaded all around Brittany, mixing with the blood that seemed to be flooding through the back seat. Just then Santana stirred slightly, groaning and not opening her eyes; groping for Brittany's hand, her little finger wrapped itself around Brittany's and she mumbled "You're right Brit, sharing a bed with Kat, DOES suck" Brittany would have laughed had the situation at hand not been so serious, but with Santana's hand clasping hers she found all the strength she needed to heave the other girl out of her seat and on to Brittany's lap. Not even five seconds later the second crash that morning happened and the force sent the Pierce's car skidding in to the side walk; Santana's door was folded completely inwards, leaving it only a few centimetres away from Brittany's petrified face.

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**Hah! I feel mean, my first proper cliffhanger so far :p hope you guys are excited to see what happens next!**


	9. Chapter 9

**Okay I know you hate me all for taking ages to update but I have a very good excuse! :p I've been totally swamped with college/family birthdays/college class mates taking me out for drinks and stuff which I just can't refuse when I'm not paying you know :p But anyway here is chapter 9, sorry it's so late but I hope you like it! R&R&E!**

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Lena's doctor was trying to calm the frantic mother down with little success. "Mrs. Pierce, your girls are going to be just fine, neither are in any life-threatening condition. Right now I'd like you to get some rest."

"Rest? I have a broken nose and a mild concussion, I don't need any rest, I need to see my girls!" Her doctor sighed and rubbed his forehead in exasperation. "Brittany is asleep and Katya is still being examined by an Otologist."

"Oto-what?"

"Ear doctor."

"But she hit her head."

"The fracture to her skull may have damaged some nerves which affect hearing." Lena felt like she was going to throw up. "Are you telling me my little girl is going to be deaf because some son of a bitch was speeding on an ice-covered road?" The raging beast that was the protective parent in her was baring its teeth and her doctor could see it; he was quick to reassure her that Katya wouldn't be left completely deaf. "Not entirely, but with the location and severity of the fracture it's possible she'll lose up to 75% of her hearing."

"But you can fix that, can't you? Tell me you can fix that."

"With hearing aids she shouldn't need any special help in school etcetera if that's what you're worried about. However if it's as bad as it looks right now it'd be highly advisable that you get in touch with someone that can teach signing." Lena sat back slowly trying to process all the information she'd just received. She couldn't quite get her head around it. Just a few hours ago it had been a perfectly normal morning outing to the park with Katya and Brittany and Santana and now...

"What about Santana?"

"The other child in the car?"

"No, the guitarist, of course the other girl in the car. What happened to her?"

"As you're not a blood relative or her legal guardian I'm not at liberty to divulge that information."

Lena's voice dropped to a cool whisper which sent chills down the experienced doctor's spine; she beckoned him closer to her, he hesitated for a moment before bending over so he was eye level with his patient. "You look here, see that 'girl'? I may have only known her since she was three-years-old, I may not be her legal guardian, and you're right, I'm not a blood relative; she's not my daughter. But here's the dope pal, I love her just as much as if she was, so how about you go and find out how she's doing for me, eh sweetcheeks?"

As soon as Leon received the call that his daughter had been in a car crash his entire body seemed to go numb. As if on auto-pilot he made his way steadily up the stairs, his second orange juice of the day seeping steadily on to the kitchen floor.

_"Maria, wake up."_ his wife looked up from her pillow groggily, _"What is it? Did I oversleep again?"_

_"Santana's been in an accident."_ At this Maria sat up straight as though an electric current had been passed through her spine.

_"What? What happened? Is she okay? Where is she now?"_

_"She was in Lena's car with her and her two girls."_ as he expected Maria's worry was quickly mingled with anger. _"What did I tell you? It's that girl!"_ Then it was Leon's turn to be angry _"For fuck's sake Maria our daughter is lying on a hospital bed in God knows what condition and you're still yattering on about Brittany. Get dressed and be in the car in five minutes or I'm leaving without you."_

By the time they arrived at the hospital Jack Pierce was already pacing the A&E waiting room like a caged animal. "Jack" Leon called out; Jack's head snapped in the direction of Santana's parents like a coiled spring. "Leon, Maria... I'm so sorry." Fear clutched at Leon's heart as he heard these words. "You don't mean..."

"Oh God no I didn't mean it like that, Santana wasn't seriously injured from what I can gather, I think something is broken though. I couldn't see her obviously as I'm not a relative." His eyes fell to the floor, his face wracked with guilt as Leon exhaled slowly.

"How are your girls?" Leon asked gently. Jack swallowed with apparent difficulty "Well, Lena has a broken nose and a mild concussion; Brittany has a laceration to the side of her head and a severe concussion; Katya... " he trailed off. "Jack?"

"Katya's skull was fractured in two places, there's been some brain damage and she'll probably be left partially deaf." Maria's hand flew to her mouth, unable to hear anymore she stalked outside silently for some fresh air. Just then a nurse appeared in front of the two fathers, "Excuse me are you Mr. Lopez?" she asked Leon. "Yes, yes that's me, can I see my daughter now?" The nurse gave a great sigh as though she was under a lot of stress, "I think that would be best, she's hysterical and if she doesn't calm down we'll have to sedate her so we can put a cast on her arm. Please follow me. Oh Mr. Pierce, you can see Lena now, you know the room?" Jack nodded numbly and Leon gave him a weak smile as he followed the tired-looking nurse down the dim corrider. They eventually reached a room with double doors and when Leon peered in through the glass door pane his legs buckled slightly, Santana was sitting on her hospital bed with scores of cuts, each about two centimetres long covering her face; she seemed to be clutching her arm away from the doctor who was trying to attend to her while shouting angrily in Spanish. When Leon pushed the door open and she spotted him Santana's anger seemed to disapparate and she fell back against her pillow exhausted.

"Hey baby girl."

"Papa, it hurts." she was now crying whilst cradling her arm between her stomach and her legs. "I know sweety, so why don't you let the doctor make it better for you?"

"They won't tell me where she is." the doctor gave an exasperated sigh as he heard this but Leon knew exactly what she meant. The doctor didn't seem to notice however and interrupted them anyway, "She refuses to have her arm put in a cast until she sees her mother, she wants to know if she's 'okay', I keep telling her her mother wasn't in the car but she's delirious and insists she was." Leon almost laughed, he shook his head slightly as Santana gripped his hand with her unhurt arm, "Did she at any point use the word 'Mama', 'moeder' or 'madre?'" "Well... no. But she kept insisting she had to see 'her' because 'she is my family' as Santana put it, who else- " Leon put up his hand "She meant the other girl her age that was in the car, Brittany Pierce." The nurse supressed a giggle as the doctor blushed madly. "Oh I see, well eh, can we see to her arm now?" Leon looked down at Santana, "San, Brittany is going to be fine, but you need to have your arm put in a cast before you can see her, okay?" "Okay."

Luckily for Brittany her nurse was a little less conventional and much more willing to inform Brittany of the state of everyone else, including Santana. Brittany's head still hurt a lot but she'd taken quite a shine to Nurse Emily so she was content for the moment despite having some of her hair cut out so they could stitch the wound on her head. "She's super duper pretty, did you notice?" Emily chuckled to herself, "Yes Brit I did notice, she's very, very pretty though she looked pretty pissed off when I saw her" Brittany looked surprised "Really? How come?" Emily let out another chuckle before replying "Well last I saw of her she had just bitten both the paramedics trying to sedate her so they could fix her arm." Brittany laughed though looked a little shocked "Oh wow she must be really mad, she hasn't bitten anyone since a boy from school called Noah tried to steal my coloured pens. But what does sedate mean?"

"It means they put her to sleep on purpose"

"Oh she definitely wouldn't like that, she never ever goes to sleep when she's told except when I ask her nicely." Brittany looked very pleased with herself as she said this.

"You two sound like you're very close." Emily said as she cleaned the congealed blood from Brittany's hair.

"Yeah she's like my bestest friend in the whole wide world" she paused for a moment "well, she's kind of my only friend apart from Katya, and Katya's my sister so she doesn't really count. But I've known Santana longer than Katya." Emily looked a little confused, "Your only friend? You seem like the kind of girl to have lots of friends at school."

"They don't like Santana at school because she couldn't speak English very well for ages, they thought she was stupid. But she's actually way smart, she knows more Dutch words than I do I think and she already knows her times-tables up to eight! We go to dance class as well but they don't like us much there either because we're kind of the teacher's favourites."

"I see, so they're jealous?"

"Well if I was them I'd be jealous of me, Santana's the coolest person to hang out with ever." Emily smiled. "Tell me all about her, she sounds very special."

"Oh she is, she taught me how to skip stones across lakes; how to build a sandcastle without it falling down; how to do joined-up writing and when we have sleepovers she makes the most amazing pillow-forts and we sleep in them and tell scary stories!" Brittany had all but forgotten about the wound in her head as she was so enthusiastic when it came to talking about Santana. "Don't you tell secrets in your fort too?" this made Brittany laugh "Me and Santana don't have any secrets, I've known her almost as long as I can remember." Emily's grin was starting to hurt her face but she couldn't help but smile.

As Brittany stopped for breath they heard a quiet knock on the door, "Come in!" called Emily, the door opened slowly and Leon stepped in with a sleepy looking Santana with a bright pink cast on her arm and surgical tape over the cuts on her face. "Brittany!" she squealed with delight when she saw her friend sitting up in bed looking perfectly happy and more or less okay, she struggled to be put down but Leon held on tightly "Papa, I'm a big girl now, let me down!"

"Yes you are but you need to get used to your cast, it'll be pretty heavy I should think." Despite his words he lowered her slowly to the ground and she took a few wobbly steps over to Brittany's bed, she looked at Emily and stuck her good hand out "Hi! I'm Santana, have you been looking after Brittany?" Emily shook the girl's hand gently before answering, "Yes I have, she's been delightful to talk to" Santana withdrew her hand and turned to pat Brittany on the shoulder "Thanks, I would have done it myself but my stupid doctor wouldn't let me leave my room for ages" she rolled her eyes as she said this, causing both Emily and Leon to turn away and stuff their fists in to their mouths to avoid bursting out laughing.

"Hey San?" Brittany said. "Yeah Brit?"

"You can totally rock the broken arm look."

"Thanks, I thought so too"

"Don't go biting any more doctors though, or they might leave you outside next time you get hurt" Both girls laughed before Santana, who had been looking thoughtful asked, "Brittany, where's Katya?"


	10. Chapter 10

**Hey guys, sorry I took so long to update, I had my purse stolen in town the other night. I got it back thankfully but they took my money and theatre tickets :( Anyway here is the latest chapter of CBTS :) Read, Review and most importantly ENJOY :)**

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Despite Maria's protests the two families spent Christmas together after the accident, it only seemed right. The following year was a mixed-up blur for both Brittany and Santana. Santana's fracture had been so severe she missed months of dance class. She didn't mind too much, as much as she hated to think of Brittany there without her she relished her time spent with Katya in the meanwhile.

It was a pretty solid routine after all. Brittany danced, Katya learnt how to sign, Santana sat and watched, Brittany came home, they had dinner, they watched a movie then went to bed. Brittany and Santana were still as they had always been: Together.

Then, when the time came for them to start the third grade Santana experienced the best school day of her life so far, her class was starting Spanish lessons. Brittany was fluent of course but while Brittany danced, drew and painted Santana had been exploring each of the four languages she now knew like the back of her hand. She was an artisan when it came to Spanish prose, she often put Jack and Lena's Dutch vocabulary to shame, she could keep up in conversation with Deaf children with greater finesse than those who had been signing for years. Best of all however, she had finally discovered a way to overcome her difficulties in English through her love of poetry. Needless to say, at the age of nine, language and communication were her "thing" as Brittany would say. So when the teacher announced they would be learning Spanish Santana was ecstatic. Finally she could prove she wasn't stupid.

In just one lesson Santana went from "stupid freak with the broken arm" to "totally cool girl that's like, way smart!". Santana's glory was sadly short lived however, as it so happened Brittany would be the one to inherit her previous title.

Neither girl was quite sure how it happened, Santana had a dental appointment that day so Brittany, sitting on her own decided to draw a picture for her friend because she knew Santana hated the dentist more than anybody. It wasn't as though she was worried about missing anything important during their Spanish hour; anything she didn't already know (which was very little in that respect) Santana could always teach her. So when the teacher was going through the class asking everyone to state their name and age in Spanish she simply wasn't listening.

"Brittany?" she looked up on hearing her name.

"Yes?"

"Name and age." without thinking she gave her answer in Dutch. There was an awful silence for a few moments before the entire class erupted in to gales of laughter, causing Brittany to blush bright crimson.

"In SPANISH Brittany" Her teacher's tone was very stern and only added to Brittany's humiliation. She corrected her mistake but the damage had already been done. She spent the rest of the afternoon trying to draw to take her mind off things but found she couldn't think of anything to put on her paper, eventually she gave up and simply tried to block out the whispers of "idiot", "she's so stupid" and "well, she IS blonde" which were flying around the classroom.

By the time the bell rang signalling the end of the school day Brittany was thoroughly miserable. As she waited at the gate for Lena to pick her up she could hear people from her class walking past and snickering, causing her to blush madly again and look down at the ground until she heard Lena calling her name, "Brittany! Over here!" she turned in the direction of the shout to see her mom waving at her from their new car (their previous one had been totalled in last year's accident) and Santana grinning at her from the passenger's seat. Brittany gave a sigh and slouched over to the car, as she climbed in Santana scrambled from the passenger's seat in to the one next to Brittany, causing Katya to squeal with delight and waste no time in seizing the opportunity to sit in the front instead.

"Hey! My new dentist is way cool, she doesn't have a moustache like my last one and gave me a sticker even though my mom said I'm too old for them."

"Cool. Where is your mom?"

"Oh she had to work or something so she called your mom and asked if I could stay over tonight since it's a Friday."

"Oh, cool." Santana was completely dumbfounded by Brittany's demeanour. Brittany was always so happy, especially towards Santana. Neither girl had ever before given a less than cheery response on hearing they had another sleepover to look forward to. And even so Santana had always been the moody one.

_"What's wrong?"_ She dropped in to Spanish in case Brittany didn't want to say in front of Lena or Katya.

_"Nothing, I'm fine."_ Brittany mumbled and turned away to look out the window.

_"Brit... why are you lying to me? You know I can tell anyway."_ Santana placed her hand on Brittany's but the other girl pulled it away.

_"I don't want to talk about it, okay?"_ She sounded the closest to angry Santana had ever heard her.

_"Okay."_ Santana didn't think it was okay at all but she decided it would be best to leave it until they got home.

"You girls okay back there?"

"We're fine" they replied in unison.

When they finally got home, shooed Katya away and climbed the stairs to Brittany's room Santana closed the door immediately and rounded on Brittany.

"Okay, now spill, what happened today?" Brittany looked at Santana, her friend was looking her in the eyes with a fierce look of concern and that intense need to protect Brittany she'd first seen that day Noah Puckerman hit her in the face with a snowball. She took a deep breath but instead of answering straight away with the truth as she would have done any other time in any other situation with Santana, she hesitated. Santana had suffered for years in school and not kicked up a fuss, now she was finally being treated nicely Brittany wasn't going to spoil it by telling her that the other kids had instead decided to torment Brittany.

"I only got sixteen out of twenty on my Spanish spelling test today." she replied, Santana exhaled loudly when she heard the reply.

"Thank god for that Brit I thought someone had hurt you. That's okay though, just because you can't spell so good doesn't mean you can't speak Spanish better than any of those stupid kids ever will." Brittany winced at the word "stupid" but Santana had been taking her coat off and hadn't noticed.

"I have something for you by the way." Brittany now felt even worse for lying to her best friend but Santana looked so excited she forced a Brittany-smile and feigned enthusiasm.

"Really? What is it?"

"Close your eyes."

"Uhm... okay." She squeezed her eyes shut tightly.

"No peeking!"

"I'm not I promise!" this time she really did smile.

"Okay open them!" Brittany opened her eyes and looked down in front of her where Santana was holding her hands out with the largest daisy chain Brittany had ever seen in them (which was saying something as between the two of them they had once made one as tall as Brittany).

"It was the first patch of daisies I'd seen this year so I decided to make them in to a chain for you while I was waiting to get in the car to the dentist's."

Brittany grinned properly and took the daisy chain in her own hands, examining it in awe, then she draped it round both their shoulders and pulled Santana in for a hug.

"I love you San" she whispered in the other girl's ear.

"I love you too Brit"

The next day Brittany realized lying to Santana had been pointless since as soon as they stepped on the school bus a paper plane came speeding their way and only just missed Santana's face. Fuming she picked it up and spread it open, "DUMB BLONDE!" was scrawled on the inside in black marker pen. She looked aside to Brittany who was looking down at her feet and fidgeting.

_"Brit? Is this why you were upset yesterday?"_

_"Yes."_ replied the blonde girl in a tiny voice. _"Are you mad at me for lying?"_

_"Hell no, I'm mad because I'm going to have to get my knuckles dirty on this moron's face."_ with that she was marching to the seat where the paper plane had come from, as she rounded on it she saw Finn and a boy she didn't recognise looking very guilty.

"Finn, what the hell?" she was surprised, Finn had always been very nice to both her and Brittany.

"He made me do it." Finn was also looking down at his feet with a look of pure shame on his face.

Santana turned to the other boy who had started sniggering.

"Big mistake boyo." said Santana; rolling back her sleeves.

By the time the bus made it to school Santana had given out three black eyes and seven Chinese burns, as well as making one boy wet himself in sheer terror after she had seen him making faces behind Brittany's back. This had earned Santana her third and latest title of "Crazy Bitch", however Noah Puckerman waited for the two girls to get off the bus to shake her hand.

"That was like, totally cool." Santana looked him up and down with a look of sheer disgust before wrenching her hand away and wiping it on her skirt.

"Ew, get away from me Puckerman." she grabbed Brittany's hand and marched through the school gates, Brittany simply turned round and shrugged at Noah who was left standing alone and looking very confused.


	11. Chapter 11

**Y'all excited for the season 2 premiere tonight? :) I know I am even though I'm from the UK and therefore wont get to see it straight away! Don't go spoiling it for me too much yankees ;) 3 Anyway, been a really hectic week but I finally managed to find the time to post chapter 11 and so here it is! Read, review, ENJOY :)**

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It was the day of Santana's first dance class since the accident, her arm had fully healed long ago but she'd held back due to her shyness and her feeling that she needed to help Katya adjust to being audibly impaired. So on the Friday morning when Lena arrived to pick up Santana even Maria was having to push the little girl in to taking her dance bag with her to school.

_"Come on Mija, you've been so looking forward to going back to dance class."_

_"But I've been away so long I'll be rubbish."_

_"Oh nonsense"_ chimed in Leon, _"Whenever Brittany stays, which is seldom-"_ he said the second part whilst glaring at his wife but she turned away and pretended she hadn't noticed.

_"-you spend half your time watching musicals and dancing along to all the songs in them."_ Santana smiled at this, it was very true after all. They'd choreographed a routine to almost every song in their favourite musicals.

_"Yeah I guess, is Lena here yet?"_ she asked.

_"Yes and Brittany is worried you're not feeling well so get a move on." _Leon said this firmly but good-naturedly, pressing a small fold of dollar bills in to her palm as she said goodbye and reminding her about the ice-cream parlour just around the corner from the dance studio. Maria tutted, marking her disapproval of Leon's spoiling of Santana, but for once didn't say anything aloud on the matter.

Down in the car Katya was trying to understand why Santana was so nervous about taking dance lessons again: "Weren't you guys like, the best in the class before the car crash?" she asked.

"Yeah but the other girls didn't like her much for it." replied Brittany. Katya's jaw dropped at this.

"How could anyone NOT like Santana?" she exclaimed. Brittany looked thoughtful for a moment before answering.

"I guess they're jealous because Santana's prettier than all of them."

"You're always talking about how pretty she is, we get the point." Katya rolled her eyes and Lena chuckled. "I'm with Brit on this one, that's probably one of the reasons the other girls are jealous. Santana's a lovely-looking girl, like you two little monsters." she concluded warmly.

"Mooooom, don't go all mushy on us right before school, you'll embarrass me!" Brittany complained, causing Lena to laugh even more. "In front of who? Santana?" Brittany blushed and mumbled something about how Santana would think she was super uncool.

"Well, speak of the devil, here she comes now." said Lena. Brittany's head swivelled in the direction of Santana's front door. She smiled as Santana shuffled to the car, wrenched the door open with surprising strength for a girl of her size, then stepped inside with an anxious look on her face.

"Hey." she said quietly.

"Hey." muttered Brittany in return.

"Hey Santana!" yelled Katya, Lena eyed the two nine-year-olds in the mirror, noticing they were avoiding looking each other in the eye more often than... well, more often than any time. It just wasn't something they did. They drove on in silence for a couple of minutes before Katya asked, "Why are you two so quiet today?"

"We're always this quiet, you just don't notice 'cause you usually never shut up." said Brittany, Santana giggled and even Lena smothered a laugh.

"I'm nervous about dance class after school." Santana confessed. Lena noticed when she said this that a great wave of sadness washed over Brittany's face and the blonde girl gripped her friend's hand tightly; Santana squeezed back without the slightest bit of hesitation, as though it was simply second nature. And with those two, thought Lena, it pretty much was.

Her thoughts were interrupted by Katya suddenly projectile vomiting all over Brittany, causing the older sister to scream out in disgust and Santana to turn slightly green herself.

"Jesus Katya, what was that?" the little girl wiped her mouth and nose on her sleeve (Lena and Santana both winced) before croaking out, "I think the milk in my lucky charms was off after all." Lena cursed silently, "I bloody well said to your father. Brittany can you wear your dance clothes to school today?"

"Mom! I'm covered in puke, no way!"

"I know B but we're almost there now, just run and get changed in the toilets, no one will notice a thing if you're fast."

"Mom! This is so not cool!" Brittany looked as though she was going to be sick herself as well as looking furious.

"Look I know I really suck but I best take Katya to the doctor's just in case." Before they knew it Santana and Brittany were being herded in to the school gates and Lena was speeding off in the direction of their family doctor's practice. Brittany simply stood there in her sick-covered pinafore and started to cry, completely unsure of what to do next. It didn't take long for people to notice and soon everyone within a twenty yard radius of them was pointing and whispering.

Santana could see one girl, that Quinn Fabray, starting to laugh; everyone else in their grade quickly followed suit. Santana grabbed Brittany's hand (despite the fact it reeked of sour milk from trying to claw the congealed spew from her clothes) and dragged her to the nurse's office.

"She needs to get changed." she stated simply, yet firmly to the bewildered school nurse.

"Ohhhh-kay. Does she need me to call her mom?"

"Oh no, it's not HER puke, it's a long story, may we just use the screen in here please?"

"Uhm, I guess. You know the bell rings in five minutes don't you?"

"Yeah, we wont be long." Brittany had stopped crying by now and felt thoroughly humiliated for doing so. Her class mates laughter kept ringing in her ears so that she barely noticed Santana undressing her, washing her hands with warm, soapy water and then... "San, what are you doing?" Brittany snapped back to reality when she realized Santana had also stripped down to her underwear.

"You're going to wear these" she replied, thrusting her own skirt and cardigan towards Brittany.

"San... that's not fair on you, I can't."

"It's not fair on you that Katya was sick all over you either, and did you hear a question in what I just said? Put them on." Reluctantly Brittany pulled on Santana's clothes which, while they were a little short due to the height difference between the girls fitted well enough, and smelt strongly of Santana which made Brittany feel instantly better. Meanwhile Santana was slipping in to her leotard and pulling a pair of shorts on over it.

"Thanks San."

"Why? It's what I'm here for." she smiled and hooked her little finger in Brittany's, and with that they both picked up their belongings and made their way to class.

Throughout the entire school day Santana was pointed and laughed at, but she genuinely didn't care because she'd rather it was her than Brittany any day. During Spanish hour however the whispering and laughing stopped completely as Santana and Brittany more or less took over, even correcting their Spanish teacher's pronunciation at regular intervals.

When they were finishing up for the day Finn came over to Brittany and Santana's table, looking at his feet mostly, seemingly nervous.

"Uh, hey."

"Hey Finn." said Brittany brightly. Santana glared at him, she still hadn't forgiven him for throwing that paper plane at Brittany on the school bus.

"That was really cool what you did Santana, just wanted to tell you."

"What do you mean?" she feigned confusion, not wanting anyone else to know what had happened to Brittany that morning.

"I saw you two going in to the nurse's office this morning, I kinda worked out what you did. It was really nice."

"She's my best friend, I was just doing my job." Brittany blushed and Finn chuckled.

"Sounds like a pretty cool job. See you around." With that he ran off to catch up with Noah and Matt.

"That was weird." said Brittany.

"Yeah it was, Finn is pretty cool though. Mostly." replied Santana.

"I guess, anyway, time for dance class!" Brittany said with a voluminous smile. A lead weight found its way in to the pit of Santana's stomach but she grasped Brittany's hand and ignored it.

It turned out Santana had nothing to worry about, while she had been away it transpired Brittany had told them all about her helping Katya with her signing after the accident, along with Brittany's new hero status for saving Santana from being crushed which Santana had explained to their teacher when she had asked how it all happened both of them were pretty much the most popular girls in the class upon Santana's return.

After class Santana remembered her father had given her money and instead of taking the bus home straight away they made a beeline for the ice-cream parlour. After buying their favourites (raspberry for Santana and chocolate for Brittany) Santana used the quarters she'd received in change to call Brittany's house and explain why they'd be late.

"That's fine, you wanting to stay tonight? I can call your mom and ask." Lena was saying.

"That'd be nice, though you're better speaking to my Papa." replied Santana.

"Okay will do, is Brittany still mad at me?"

"I think she's forgotten about the whole thing to be honest with you Lena." said Santana as she looked over fondly at Brittany slurping her ice-cream whilst swinging her legs to and fro; sitting on the counter next to the pay phone. After saying goodbye to Lena and hanging up Santana tried to haul herself up on the counter next to Brittany but found she was too small.

Brittany laughed and put her ice-cream on the counter and jumped down, "Here, I'll give you a boost." she clasped her hands together and Santana stepped on them, just managing to pull herself up on to the counter without dropping her own ice-cream. Brittany returned to her seating place and the two girls sat in content silence for a full ten minutes while they devoured their desserts.

_"San?"_

_"Yeah Brit?"_

_"Thanks for today."_

_"It's okay, I did it because you're my best friend."_

_"Promise?"_

_"Of course silly, we both promised, best friends forever and beyond. Remember?"_

_"Yeah."_


	12. Chapter 12

**Okay so I took ages to update, but it's an extra long chapter to make up for that! :) In answer to a review, they will be growing up but if the majority of readers are enjoying "Baby-Brittana" I can slow down the pace a little? Though I'd like to get through Season 1 timezone before the first half of Season 2 is finished airing. AND HELL TO THE YEAH I'M READY FOR B/B. Actually cannot wait! **

**Anyway, back to the task at hand ;) Read, review, ENJOY! :)**

* * *

That year on Katya's birthday Brittany and Santana were excused from the celebrations for the first time. Or rather, Katya wanted a more "grown-up" party with only her school friends there. As Santana had started getting more money and less actual gifts from her mother on her birthday she decided to take Brittany to the movies.

"Uh are you sure my Mom will let us?"

"Probably, I have enough money to get us a cab home if the movie finishes super late."

"A cab? By ourselves? Yeah Mom definitely won't be cool with that."

"Really? Maria let's me do it all the time when I have doctor's appointments and stuff." As they sat cross-legged on her bed Brittany looked uncomfortable and started picking at her shoelaces. "Why do you call her Maria? You never used to." Santana simply shrugged and took another swig of her orange juice. "Why not?"

"Because she's your Mom?" Brittany tried. "Big deal." Santana drained her glass and set it down on the floor, wiping her mouth with the back of her hand. Brittany gave up and changed the subject. "Maybe Quinn's dad will take us to the movies and back again." Santana looked up, horrified. "What? Did you invite Quinn Fabray over to hang out with us tonight?"

"Sort of, her mom and my Mom have been pretty friendly lately."

"Ugh that doesn't mean we have to be friends with HER though." Santana scowled and threw herself back on to Brittany's pillow. "She's not THAT bad when you talk to her."

"Britt, when has she ever spoken to you without calling you dumb or stupid?"

"The other day she said she liked my painting of you" Brittany perked up slightly as she remembered this piece of information.

"That's because you knocked your water pot over it so it looked like I had diarrhoea, Britt. I do not want to hang out with her." Santana said with a loud sigh. Brittany frowned, thinking hard. "She has a swimming pool in her backyard, maybe we can convince her to let us sleep over?" This caused Santana's eyes to light up, she loved swimming.

"Really? I better put on my nice face then." she replied.

"Oh don't worry I can do that for you." Brittany said, giggling. Santana looked confused. "Huh? What do you me- " the rest of her question was cut off as Brittany jumped on to her and started tickling her ferociously, they rolled off the bed with a loud thud just as the doorbell rang distantly downstairs. The panting girls looked at each other apprehensively.

"Do you think that's her now?" asked Santana. "Must be, Katya's friends aren't supposed to be here for another hour."

Santana took Brittany's hand in her own and they made their way carefully down to the front door, by the time they got there Lena had answered and Quinn Fabray was indeed standing in the hall looking just as nervous as the other girls. She looked at their joined hands and looked confused for a moment before Lena ushered the three girls in to the kitchen.

"So you girls decided what you're gonna do tonight?" she asked with a strained smile, obviously worried about the just-turned-10-year-olds being out at night.

"Uhm, we thought maybe we could go see a movie?" Santana asked hopefully, Brittany winced, expecting immediate refusal on her mother's part.

"And how will you be getting home so late?" Lena asked. Santana and Brittany opened and closed their mouths a few times like guppies, not able to bring themselves to suggest taking a cab home nor think of an alternative. Then the other young girl in the room spoke up.

"My Daddy finishes work in an hour, he'll be more than happy to run us home afterwards." Lena eyed Quinn suspiciously before answering, "Well I suppose that'll be fine, I'll call your house just to make sure Quinn, but first I suppose I'll have to give you girls a lift there. Go get your coats." Santana and Brittany looked at each other and then Quinn disbelievingly, before running up the stairs, beckoning that Quinn should follow them.

When they made it back to Brittany's room with Quinn now on their heels they automatically began peeling off their leotards which they'd been practising in an hour previously and pulling on clothes for going out. Quinn stood there looking absolutely mortified.

"What's wrong?" queried Brittany.

"Do you guys do this a lot?" she asked in an uncertain voice. "Do what?" Santana and Brittany chorused.

"Get naked in front of each other." Quinn replied. The other two girls looked at each other for a moment then started laughing.

"We're not getting naked, it's not like you can see anything really nasty." Santana said with a smirk. Brittany finished changing and pulled on a denim jacket. "Yeah, we're just changing our clothes. What's the big deal?"

"It's just kinda weird." Quinn mumbled. "But you change in front of other girls too all the time for gym class." said Santana as she pulled her hair back in to a pony-tail.

"Yeah because we HAVE to, not because we want to or anything." Quinn's voice was becoming quieter with each retort she gave. Santana looked at Brittany and dropped in to Spanish quietly, _"I told you, she's so weird."_ Brittany looked embarrassed.

"San that's rude, don't use Spanish when Quinn's here." Santana rolled her eyes and started climbing down the ladder to the hall. "Whatever." she called up behind her. Quinn looked to Brittany and was shocked to see she looked like she was about to cry.

"Brittany, what's wrong? Was it because of what I said?" she asked. "She, she said 'whatever' to me!" Brittany said, bursting in to tears. Quinn didn't really understand what the big deal was but Brittany looked devastated.

"Is that a bad thing?" she tried.

"She's never said that to me without kidding, ever. And now she just did. She must be really mad at me." Quinn looked awkward, not really familiar with the girl or the situation, she reached out to pat Brittany on the shoulder but then decided against it and pretended she was just smoothing her own hair. "Let's go see where she's gotten to, maybe she was just pretending to be mad?" she tried. Brittany looked up at this, "Yeah, maybe, she really likes make-believe games." Quinn smiled weakly and followed the other blonde girl down the ladder to the stairs.

They found Santana sitting at the breakfast bar sucking savagely on a straw poking in to a tall glass of orange juice while Lena tried to inconspicuously throw an obviously well-soaked tissue in to the wastepaper basket. Brittany could tell Santana had been crying all the same and immediately felt terrible, even though she didn't know what she'd done to make Santana mad/sad. Santana looked up when she heard them walk in to the kitchen and blushed, looking in to her glass as though something deeply interesting lay at the bottom of it.

"You girls ready to go?" asked Lena, casting a suspicion look at the two blonde girls. "Yeah, we were uh, just not sure if Santana was ready or not." Brittany replied. Santana jumped down off her stool and walked wordlessly out to the car. Quinn pinched Brittany on the arm and whispered, "Let me try talking to her." before running after Santana. Brittany didn't look convinced but was distracted by her mother walking over and kneeling in front of her.

"It's great that you and Santana are making new friends sweetie, but Santana's not used to sharing you. Be patient." she brushed away the single tear that had formed at the corner of one of Brittany's eyes and held her close for a few moments before pulling away again.

"Mom." sniffed Brittany.

"Yes?"

"I love you."

"I love you too honey, now go make sure Santana isn't tearing poor Quinn Fabray in to pieces all over the back-seat. I'll be out in a moment." Lena replied with a wink.

Brittany smiled at last and ran out to join her friends in the car, preparing for the worst. However when she pulled the car door open Santana and Quinn seemed to be deep in earnest conversation. They stopped abruptly when Brittany appeared. "What are you guys talking about?" she asked innocently.

"Boys." replied Santana. Brittany was more confused than ever now. "Why? You hate boys." Quinn laughed a little at Brittany's answer. "Hating boys is so third grade." she said.

"Uh, okay. What are you saying about them?" said Brittany as she climbed in to the seat next to Santana and shut the door. As she sat down she felt Santana's hand snake around her waist as way of an apology and stopped feeling left out. She still felt confused however over Santana's sudden interest in the subject of boys, she gave the hand round her waist a tight squeeze with her right-hand and settled down.

"Noah's pretty cute, don't you think?" Quinn was saying.

"Puckerman? Ew gross. I like Finn." replied Santana.

"Hudson? You LIKE Finn Hudson?" Quinn asked incredulously. Santana's face fell.

"No, no I don't LIKE, like him. I just think he's the only boy in our grade who isn't a complete dee-bag." As she struggled to convince Quinn she didn't have a crush on Finn Hudson Santana felt Brittany's grip on her hand slowly begin to slacken.

"Nah, nah, nah, nah-nah! Santana likes Finn!" Quinn was chanting.

"I do NOT." Brittany suddenly shrugged Santana's arm off and turned to look out the window even though Lena was still in the house and the car therefore wasn't even moving. This was too much for Santana and she shoved Quinn as hard as she could. "Quinn SHUT UP!" She shouted. Quinn hit her door quite hard but she seemed more shocked by Santana's verbal reaction. "Geez San, I was only kidding." she half-whispered.

"Don't call me San." with that Santana turned to Brittany and pawed at her shoulder like an anxious puppy. Brittany turned her head slightly and at the look of pure sadness in Santana's eyes she relented, twisting back round and slipping her hand in to Santana's.

"You guys are so weird." Quinn muttered, but before either girl could protest Lena slid in to the car and they were heading speedily to the movie theatre. When they arrived Lena hurried the girls in to the foyer and told them Quinn's father would be picking them up there at 10pm. "Don't be late girls."

"We won't" Santana and Brittany replied in unison. Quinn simply rolled her eyes and kicked at the ground, scuffing her once immaculate, white sneakers. Lena bent down to kiss Brittany on the cheek but Brittany hastily pushed her away "Mom everyone's looking at me!". Lena chuckled and turned to Santana who placed her arms around her waist and squeezed tightly, the woman then waved a goodbye at Quinn and turned to walk back to her car.

"Your own Mom not hug you enough or something San?" Quinn asked, smirking. Santana whirled round furiously, "Shut your mouth Fabray. And like I said before, don't call me San."

"Why not? Brittany does it all the time." retorted Quinn.

"Is your name Brittany? No, so don't call me San." Santana walked away to the screens displaying what was showing that evening. Quinn rolled her eyes again and looked at Brittany questioningly. Brittany just shrugged her shoulders and said, "You shouldn't talk about her Mom, it's a touchy subject. And she wont let you call her San until she trusts you."

"I'll call her whatever I want to." said Quinn huffily. "Hey, your Mom forgot to give you money for your ticket." she then pointed out.

"I'm paying for her." said a voice behind them. Santana had returned and held out a ticket to each of the blondes. "Uh, thanks. How much do I owe you?" Quinn asked, looking very confused as she took her ticket. "Forget about it, this way I get to decide what we see, so just take it." Santana replied shortly. Quinn stood gaping at Brittany who again, simply shrugged her shoulders and ran to catch up with her best friend who was waiting outside the elevator.

Santana also insisted on paying for their drinks and popcorn and Quinn was starting to feel as though she was walking in to a trap, as they took their seats she whispered to Brittany, "Why is Santana being so nice to me?" Brittany just giggled and explained "Santana's the nicest person I know, people just don't give her a chance to show it." Quinn still wasn't convinced, but decided not to pursue the subject any further for the time-being; giving Santana a break at least for a while.

However when the movie started and she saw the brightly coloured and extremely anatomically incorrect "cast" of Computer-generated characters leaping about on the screen she spat out some of her soda and looked round at her companions. Brittany was clapping excitedly and bouncing up and down on her seat while Santana sat back in her seat looking mellow yet unamused. Quinn reached over behind Brittany who was leaning forward in her seat with a huge grin on her face, and nudged Santana. "What?"

"Santana, this is a kid's movie!" she whispered urgently.

"Yeah? And we're kids. What's the problem?" Santana replied coolly. "For like, little kids, we're in double digits now! This is just embarrassing." Quinn expressed exasperatedly. Santana rolled her eyes and adjusted the way she was sitting slightly so she could face Quinn head on. "Look, I know I'm supposed to be all up for us being your new BBF's and what not, but so far I'm not. So I really couldn't care less if you like what we're watching or not, and even if I did, I care way more about what Brittany wants and she's been wanting to see this for ages. So how about you sit back and just enjoy the show?" Quinn frowned, feeling defeated. "What about what you want? Are you going to enjoy it?"

"Why does it matter if Brittany's having a good time?" Santana replied, looking confused. Yep, those two are definitely weird, Quinn thought to herself. She left it at that and within thirty minutes she found she was in fact enjoying the movie, though she would never admit that to anyone. When the movie finished Quinn looked over to see if Santana had enjoyed herself at all, but found she was fast asleep on Brittany's shoulder with her small hands wrapped around her friend's arm.

"Wow, who would have thought Santana Lopez could look cute." Quinn noted. Brittany looked a little surprised, "You think she's cute too? I think she's the cutest thing ever. You should see her when she wakes up first thing in the morning."

"Really? I'd imagine she'd be really cranky first thing in the morning." Quinn replied. "Yeah exactly, she's so cute when she's sleepy and mad at the same time" Brittany said, smiling brightly. The house lights came on and Santana screwed up her eyes; burying her face in to Brittany's shoulder.

"San, the movie's finished." Brittany cooed in to her ear. The other girl stifled a yawn and blinked open her eyes. "What? Oh, damn. I was having the coolest dream." she said sleepily. Brittany grinned and helped Santana to her feet. "Tell me about it."

"Me and you were in this really big, old house."

"That sounds kind of scary" said Brittany, frowning.

"It was, a ghost jumped out but you shot rainbows at it from your fingers and it ran away." Santana explained, causing Brittany's eyes to widen with excitement. "Okay, wow. That is SO cool. Sorry for waking you up, but it's almost 10pm."

"Oh, we better go downstairs then. Did you enjoy the movie Quinn?" she asked, remembering that for once she was somewhat responsible for someone other than Brittany.

"Uh, it was okay." she grumbled, pretending she hadn't liked it at all. The three girls sauntered to the exit, as they walked through the double doors Quinn announced she was going to the bathroom and that she'd get them at the front doors downstairs.

Santana and Brittany were only too obliging to have a few minutes by themselves. _"So, what do you think of her?"_ Brittany asked as they huddled at the front doors, close up against the wall to avoid the people trafficking in and out the doors barging in to them.

_"She's not as terrible as I thought she'd be. But I still don't like her."_ Santana said begrudgingly.

_"I think she's okay. We could test her I suppose."_

_"What do you mean?"_ Inquired Santana, cocking her head to one side.

_"Let's see if she's down with having a midnight swim in her pool, or if she's just a good little church girl."_ Brittany said smirking. Santana raised her eyebrows, surprised her sweet little friend could be so scheming.

_"You're right, we should do that. Sometimes I forget you're the smart one."_ she slipped her hand in to Brittany's just as Quinn reached them and pointed out the car from which her father was now waving to them from. As they walked to it Brittany started swinging her and Santana's hands and turned to Quinn. "Quinn, since Santana's like, super tired and your house is like, totally ages away from our neighbourhood... do you think it would be cool if we like, had a sleepover at your house tonight?"

"Yeah, I'm super tired." Santana added, running her free hand through her hair and yawning. Quinn tried to hide her excitement, no one had invited/asked her for a sleepover in a long time. Most of the other girls in her grade had been to her house once and decided afterwards they only liked hanging out with her in school because she was popular and was therefore a "slushie-guard".

As they climbed in to the car Santana noticed Quinn made a bee-line for the front seat, batting her eye-lids and showing all her teeth in her biggest smile. Santana nudged Brittany and they both giggled as Quinn went full-on perfect-daughter mode.

"Daaaaaddy?" she started.

"Yes sweetheart?"

"I know it's mega late but Santana and Brittany are like really cool and I would totally love it if they slept over tonight. Would that be okay?" she continued.

"Of course, as long as Brittany and Santana's moms wont mind them calling so late?" he said, tilting his head slightly so the two girls in the back-seat could hear him properly.

"No she wont mind at all." said Brittany with a smile. "She wont care." Santana said under her breath, Brittany nudged her and she spoke up "No it'll be fine thank you."

When they arrived at the Fabray's house Santana and Brittany were both in awe at the sheer size of it. _"Look at the size of this place."_ Santana muttered to Brittany, who could only nod and let Santana lead her by the hand in to the large oaken hallway. It was dark and they were worried whoever else lived in the household was already asleep. They were relieved however when Quinn led them in to the kitchen to find her mom and older sister sitting at the large table there drinking hot chocolate.

"Hey Mom!"

"Hello Quinnie, did you have a good time at the movies?"

"Yeah it was... " she was about to say awesome but remembered she was pretending she was too old for 'kiddie movies' "the movie was kinda lame but I had fun anyway." she reached behind her and hauled Santana forwards with surprising force, causing the other girl to scowl slightly.

"Mom, this is Santana, and this is Brittany." Quinn said, pointing to each girl in turn. Brittany gave her oh-so-sunshining-smile and waved. Santana on the other hand walked over and held her hand out, "My name's Santana Lopez, nice to meet you." Quinn's mother looked slightly taken aback but took her hand and shook it anyway.

"I suppose you girls will be wanting to use the phone?" Quinn's father interrupted.

"Oh yes please!" Brittany answered. He led the three girls back through to the hall and showed them the telephone lying on a desk. "Knock yourselves out, I'm going to get ready for bed, let me know if either of you need a lift home after all." He bent down and kissed Quinn on the cheek then made for the large staircase. Brittany dialled her home number and didn't have to wait long before Lena picked up, Santana leant in so she could hear what was said.

_"Hey Mom, we're at Quinn's house and we were wondering if we could stay here tonight?"_ the two girls held their breath during the slight pause on the other end of the phone.

_"Yeah that's fine, that means I can get an early night! Call me in the morning and I'll run Santana home."_

_"Thanks Lena!"_ Santana said so the woman could hear her.

_"Oh hey San, no problem. Goodnight you two, I love you both."_

_"Goodnight."_ the two girls said, putting the phone down. They turned and looked at Quinn expectantly. Quinn stared back. "Aren't you going to call your mom Santana?"

"No need." she replied in a voice that said "Don't even think about asking."

"So can we borrow PJ's?" asked Brittany, quickly changing the subject.

"Uh sure, follow me." They did as she asked and Quinn led them to her room at the top of the stairs. It was huge. Like a princess's room, Santana thought. Brittany evidently was thinking the same as she stared absent-mindedly twirling round while looking up at the high ceiling with her mouth open. Quinn rummaged around in one of her drawers and threw a pair of pyjamas at each of her companions: pink for Santana and yellow for Brittany.

Remembering the incident in Brittany's room Quinn picked up her own pair of green pyjamas and hurried in to her en-suite to change. Brittany and Santana looked at the shut door and then at each other for a moment, then burst in to giggles and quickly changed in to their borrowed night clothes. After changing the three girls sat on Quinn's double bed and talked more about boys, Brittany felt very left out. She didn't find boys interesting at all; she didn't understand why Santana was suddenly pretending she did. After a long time of letting Santana and Quinn do all the talking Brittany noticed it was one minute till midnight.

"Guys! Look at the time!" she said pointing at Quinn's bedside clock wildly. "Huh?" Quinn didn't understand what the big deal was. "Britt and I always make a wish if we're awake at midnight." Santana explained.

"Oh. Well we have like ten seconds left." she watched as Santana and Brittany linked their pinkies together, screwed up their eyes and moved their lips silently over and over. Quinn "cheated" and kept her eyes wide open, watching their lips, but it was no use, she knew enough to know Santana was mouthing in Spanish and Brittany was saying something about rainbows. When they opened their eyes again Brittany gave Santana a meaningful look, which Quinn missed as she was now stretched flat out on her back.

"Quinn, seeing as everyone else is asleep, and it's super warm tonight do you think we could go out and turn the sprinklers on?" Brittany asked sweetly. Quinn didn't look sure, but she wanted to impress her new friends so they would want to sleep over again.

"Sure, but we have to be quiet."

"Of course." Santana said smirking. Quinn pressed a finger to her lips and tiptoed over to her bedroom door, opening it slowly and peeking out though she knew every else was asleep. After a moment she beckoned the other two girls to follow her and the trio made their way stealthily down to the sliding patio doors.

Once they were in the garden Santana and Brittany looked up at the stars dotted against the inky blue sky and smiled at each other. Quinn disappeared for a minute and the sprinklers suddenly sprang to life, when she returned the other girls were already doing a jig in amongst the jets of water.

"Don't get your pyjamas TOO wet or you wont be able to sleep in them!" she said giggling and running to join them. After ten minutes of revelry they flopped down in the grass, panting and smiling.

"Let's go in the pool" Santana suggested suddenly.

"Uh, in what swimsuits?" Quinn asked.

"Who needs 'em?" Santana replied, smiling wickedly and getting to her feet. Brittany knew what was coming and jumped up after her. They joined hands and ran to the pool's edge, Quinn followed warily, unsure of what they were intending to do. Then Santana peeled off her pyjamas with Brittany quickly following suit.

"Oh my... guys, when you get properly naked in front of each other why does it have to be in front of me?" Quinn asked, looking shocked. If the other girls answered Quinn didn't hear as the next thing she did hear was a loud splash as Santana and Brittany simultaneously jumped in to the pool.

"Guys keep it down, you'll wake my parents!" she whispered urgently.

"You coming in or what?" asked Santana, with a serious look on her face. Quinn knew that she was being tested, she knew that this next decision defined the rest of her friendship with the two girls that were treading water in her pool with intrigued expressions. She knew they held all the power; she knew she didn't like that, but she also knew they were different from all the other girls at school.

Quinn Fabray looked down at her feet for a few moments; took a deep breath.

Then she jumped.


	13. Chapter 13

**So guys, about Brittany's surname. Keep the one I've been using and write around it when I get to the B/B episode or go through all my previous chapters and change it to Pierce? Let me know, my readers are my biggest influences, you are all great :)**

**Read/Review/ENJOY **

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In the following weeks Quinn rapidly became an integral part of Santana and Brittany's routine, Santana would never admit it to anyone but Brittany but they were going to need Quinn to get through Middle School; Quinn needed them just as much. And though Santana would never admit it even to Brittany, she actually liked hanging out with Quinn most of the time.

"Britt? You okay? It's five minutes till midnight." Santana knocked softly on the bathroom door where her friend had been for the past ten minutes.

"I'm fine." she replied, her voice cracking. Santana could tell straight away she was crying, luckily she'd been to the Fabray's house enough times to know you could jimmy the lock on the bathroom door open without too much trouble (Quinn hated her for it). After some scuffling and a quiet bump Santana edged her way in to the bathroom and locked the door again behind her. Brittany was sitting on the floor with her back against the bath tub with her head in her arms. Without saying a word Santana grabbed a wad of toilet paper, knelt down in front of Brittany, lifting her head gently and dabbing at the fresh tears running down the girl's face.

"Who did this to you?" she asked. Brittany's sobs slowly subsided and she looked Santana straight in the eye.

"Promise you wont get mad." Brittany begged.

"I can't."

"Noah, him and Finn are out in the backyard."

"Puckerman." Santana growled, bristling.

"Don't worry about it San, I'm just being silly." Brittany said.

"What did he say to you?" Santana demanded.

"Finn asked me who I was going to kiss at midnight, he said he wanted to kiss you." Santana made a face of sheer disgust as Brittany said this. "So I said I didn't know, and asked why I had to kiss someone at midnight?" Brittany continued.

"Okay, then what did Puck say?" Santana urged her on.

"Then Puck said no one would want to kiss me because I'm so stupid." Brittany said, tearing up again. Both Santana's fists slowly clenched and unclenched. "Okay then what did you say?"

"Then I said that Quinn said kissing boys is like, totally gross and then Puck said I'M gross." she put her heads in to hands again after finishing her story. Santana pulled Brittany to her feet and took her hand, "Come on, it's midnight really soon." she led Brittany down to the large dining room where most people at the Fabray's new year party were congregated. As soon as they stepped in to the room Brittany spotted the boys and let out a small whimper, she clamped her hand over her mouth but almost instinctively Santana turned her head towards the source of Brittany's discomfort. She took a long, deep breath and convinced herself she would regret it if she was removing her fist from Puckerman's mouth when the clocks struck twelve. Her eyes darted to the clock on the mantelpiece. Two minutes to go.

The room was extremely crowded and Santana could tell by the way Brittany grasped her hand that it was only adding to her friend's agitation. Gripping Brittany's hand firmly, Santana quickly pulled her under the large dining table where the large table cloth meant they were completely hidden from view of the other guests. They sat cross-legged facing each other, Santana suddenly feeling as nervous as Brittany. "I thought you would want to kiss Finn at midnight." Brittany confessed, looking down at her hands. "Ugh, are you kidding? Finn's nice but he's still a boy, and he's like freaky tall." Santana replied looking mortified.  
"Yeah good point, you're so small you'd have to get a stepladder." Brittany said, Santana smiled, making jokes about her being small usually meant Brittany was her normal happy self. However when she looked at Brittany in the eyes expecting to see their usual forget-me-not blue all she saw was grey.  
They sat in silence for a few moments, listening to the buzz of the party going on around them. Brittany heard someone yell "Thirty seconds" and she grabbed Santana's hand again. Santana squeezed back but she felt slightly hurt when she saw Brittany still looking extremely downcast. They had always treasured New Years together. Then she had an idea.  
"Brittany."  
"What?"  
"Close your eyes." she commanded. "Why?" Brittany looked confused. "Just do it, trust me."  
"Um, okay." Brittany squeezed her eyes shut tightly. "For how long?" she asked.  
Twenty seconds to go.  
"Until I say you can open them again." Santana replied.  
10.  
Brittany could hear Puck talking and Quinn shrieking in disgust.  
9.  
Santana heard Katya giggling and the clomping of Finn's heavy shoes he had to wear to support his ankles.  
8.  
Maria Lopez could be heard by both girls laughing, actually laughing. Brittany squeezed Santana's hand tighter.  
7.  
Thud. Someone placed an empty champagne bottle on the table directly above their heads.  
6.  
More shrieking from Quinn.  
5.  
Everyone but the two girls were now counting down aloud.  
4.  
A strand of hair fell across Brittany's face and Santana automatically brushed it away.  
3.  
Brittany's free hand crept towards Santana who took it in her own, gripping it firmly.  
2.  
Santana took a deep breath.  
1.  
Brittany smiled.  
Everyone in the dining room erupted in to cheers of "Happy New Year!" at the top of their voices, but Brittany didn't hear a thing. All she could think about was the smell of bubblegum, suddenly strong, long hair tickling her face and slightly chapped yet soft lips being pressed gently against her own.  
Slowly Santana sat back on her knees and told Brittany in a small voice that she could open her eyes again. When she did she saw Santana's cheeks were burning furiously. "Happy New Year San."

"You too, Britt." she replied softly, suddenly very interested in inspecting the table cloth.  
"I thought you agreed with Quinn when she said kissing boys is gross?" Brittany queried. Santana turned round and her signature smirk crept across her face.  
"I did, but she didn't say anything about kissing your friends."

A week later they were as usual, spending Friday night at Quinn's house. As Lena dropped Brittany off she insisted on having a word with Quinn's parents.  
"Mom, we've slept over like a hundred times." Brittany complained. "Oh don't worry, you and Santana don't have to stick around." Lena replied. When they made it in to Fabray's living room Brittany was surprised to see Maria sitting with a coffee and Santana wearing her "best behaviour expression." on the sofa next to her. Quinn sat opposite them next to her own mother. When Brittany entered Santana looked up and couldn't help but smile.  
"Hello Lena, would you like anything to drink?" Quinn's mother asked. "No thanks, I can't stay long I'm afraid, Katya's not feeling well." Maria rolled her eyes as Lena spoke but Lena didn't make any sign that had she acknowledged it.  
"Mom? What's this all about?" Brittany asked.  
"Well, we've decided that since this summer will be your last vacation before starting middle school you might want to take a holiday together. The three of you." There was silence for a few seconds and then the three young girls jumped to their feet and started chattering excitedly and asking endless questions.  
"Really? Do you really mean it?" Quinn asked. "Yes, yes, we've been speaking about it for a few weeks now." Lena replied. "Wait, where are we going? And who's taking us?" Asked Santana suspiciously. "Brittany's grandparents, in England." At this Brittany's eyes widened and she let out a cheer, followed by Santana whom Brittany's grandmother had taken an instant liking to when they had met once before at Brittany's seventh birthday party.  
"So I take it all three of you are fine with this?" Quinn's mother asked jokingly. "Heck yes!"  
"Language Quinn."  
"Sorry Mom."  
After another ten minutes of discussions Maria and Lena made to leave, Maria gave Santana an awkward peck on the cheek and patted her shoulder before making her way towards the front door, Lena pulled both Brittany and Santana in to a tight hug and ruffled Santana's hair. Santana beamed and waved, "Bye Mom." Maria who was only halfway through the front door froze.  
Santana clapped her hand to her mouth, horrified.  
"I didn't mean... "  
Maria's shoulders tensed up for a moment, but then without looking back she continued walking to her car. Brittany studied Santana's face, she looked devastated.  
"It just slipped out... " she whispered. She looked up at Lena who was wearing a crestfallen expression. "I'm sorry Lena."  
"Don't be silly, anyone could have made that mistake." Lena reassured her.  
"But they didn't, I did." Santana replied shortly, suddenly her face masked and neutral. Without saying another word she turned and walked up the stairs to Quinn's room.

"What's wrong?" Quinn asked when Santana stomped in without Brittany. "Nothing, can we watch a movie?" Santana decided she definitely wasn't in the mood for talking. "Uh sure, are you gonna let Brittany pick?"

"You can do it." Santana said before doing something she had never done before, picking up her bag she slipped quietly in to the bathroom to change in to her pyjamas. After a few minutes she heard Brittany walk in and ask where she was. "She's getting changed." Quinn said, nodding her head towards the en suite.

On either side of the bathroom door a single tear rolled slowly down a flushed cheek.


	14. Chapter 14

**So most people that I spoke to about the whole name thing said I should go with Pierce, I'm pretty sure I changed all the chapters but if you see any rogue "Van Deusen"s anywhere let me know and I'll sort it ;) I'm trying REALLY hard not to centre this around Santana TOO much, which is hard for me because she's by far my favourite character in the show. So I'd really love some feedback on how you think Brittany's character is being developed (and Quinn's if you like even though she's only been in a few chapters so far). **

**Anyway, read/review/ENJOY :) **

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The months leading up to that summer that year seemed to crawl past for all three girls at a snail's pace. Santana however, was too preoccupied with finding new excuses to spend as much time away from her house as possible. Her brothers had made a brief visit home from their new lives in California a week in late spring and though she had never been particularly close to either her mother insisted she stay home that weekend. This meant Brittany would be spending the night away from home without Santana for the first time other than hospital over-nights.

When Quinn answered the door and saw Brittany standing there with an anxious expression on her face and no Santana she thought something was seriously wrong, she ushered the other blonde girl inside and took the stairs two at a time to her bedroom. When Brittany had set her overnight bag down on the floor Quinn crouched down to open the drawer to her movie collection, more out of muscle memory than even habit.

"I don't want to watch a movie." Brittany said, breaking her silence. Quinn's head swiveled round and she stared at Brittany, watching a movie was always the first thing they did. It was part of their routine. Brittany and Santana arrived together after dinner, they would let (or rather Santana would insist) Brittany choose a movie and only afterwards the three girls would move on to a different activity. Some weeks they baked sugary (Quinn's), lop-sided (Santana's) and burnt (Brittany's) cakes; other weeks they would sneak in to Quinn's sister's room and read her diary and some weeks they begged Quinn's daddy to take them bowling or roller-skating.

The movie however, always happened. It was like Brittany and Santana being friends, Quinn thought to herself, that's just the way it was. So when Brittany arrived late, without Santana and not in the mood for a movie (a crazy notion in itself) Quinn was extremely confused.

"Uh, why not? Are we waiting for Santana or something?"

"She's not coming tonight." Brittany replied soberly.

"Why not?" Quinn asked, even more confused.

"Her brother's are visiting." Brittany replied shortly.

"Oh, what's wrong then? It's not like she's not here because she's mad at us or anything?"

"I just don't like her brothers very much, they're not very nice." Brittany was now pulling on her pyjamas and for once Quinn was too distracted by their conversation to bother averting her eyes; concentrating instead on the steely look she'd never seen in her friend's eyes before. "How do you mean?" Quinn pursued the subject, too interested to take the hint that Brittany did not feel like talking about it. Brittany stopped and turned to face her looking the angriest Quinn had ever seen her.

"They make her cry."

"Santana never cries." Except when you're involved, Quinn thought, but she kept that part to herself. To her utter amazement Brittany let out a snort.

"She'd kill me if she knew we were talking about this, but she cries a lot more than you'd think."

"Okay, but how do they make her cry?" Quinn was becoming more and more engrossed in the conversation as it went on. "Whenever I used to sleep over and they were there they'd make fun of us and say she was going to be a 'lesbiana asquerosa' when she got older and stuff like that. I don't know what the first word means but Santana got really upset and they made a habit of it. I don't even know what a 'lesbiana' is but Santana isn't going to be a nasty anything." Brittany inhaled slowly after her quick stream of speech. Quinn squirmed and fidgeted with the hem of her shirt.

"Uh Britt? Obviously I don't speak Spanish but I'm pretty sure lesbiana is the same as lesbian." She said.

"Quinn, I'm not THAT dumb. I just don't know what lesbian means either." Quinn flushed, embarrassed that Brittany had thought she was talking down to her.

"It's a woman that loves other women." She said looking down at the much stained carpet. Now it was Brittany's turn to look confused.

"That can't be right, Santana wouldn't cry at that. She loves me." Brittany replied.

"No Britt, not like that. It means they love other women in the way a husband and wife love each other. It means they'll go to Hell." Brittany looked appalled when Quinn finished speaking. "For loving someone! That's so stupid!"

"For loving someone of the same sex, it's gross Britt. It's not natural." Sensing the subject needed to be changed Brittany simply replied with, "I changed my mind, let's watch the Little Mermaid."

"You and your kiddy movies." said Quinn, but she rolled her eyes fondly.

"Actually it's Santana's favourite." Brittany replied without turning around.

Meanwhile at the Lopez household Santana's family was, for the first time in years congregated around the same dinner table. The conversation revolved mostly around Joseph and Matthew and how they were finding life in California, Santana remained silent, picking at her food with no appetite whatsoever. Matthew, who had always been the quieter of her two brothers addressed Santana directly, catching her off guard, "So Santana, what are you doing this summer?" she looked up, startled and completely at a loss for words. "Uh, going to England for two weeks."

"Oh, that's pretty cool." Matthew said awkwardly. "Yes, she's going with that nice Fabray girl." their mother gushed, before Santana could interject Joseph looked up from his food also with a surprised expression, "You finally ditched that stupid little Dutch kid then?"

"Fuck you Joseph."

"Santana! How dare you use such language!" her mother exclaimed. "Firstly, she's not stupid, last time I checked you can't communicate in four languages. Secondly, she's not little, she's taller than me and always has been. Thirdly, she's coming too, it's actually her grandparents we're staying with. Also her name is Brittany which you know fine well." Santana replied, looking absolutely livid.

"San, calm down, you're far too young to be using profanities." Leon said gently.

"Well maybe she's not stupid but you certainly are, English, Spanish and Dutch is only three languages San." Joseph said grinning. Santana simply rolled her eyes, "We both learned Signing after the car crash, which you would know if you ever bothered calling home."

"Santana that's enough, up to your room." Maria said, her voice eerily quiet.

"That's not fair! Papa, tell her that's not fair!" she pleaded while Joseph smirked and Matthew looked down at his feet highly embarrassed. "Life isn't fair mija, the sooner you learn that the better." Maria said. Leon slammed down his fork and stood up, his chair falling to the floor with a thud. "That is ENOUGH everyone! Santana, wait in the car." Santana was only too happy to oblige and scrambled out of her own seat and sprinted to the front door. As it slammed behind her Leon lowered his voice again, "I think it would be best if you two cut your visit short this week, I'm very disappointed in you boys."

"Leon-" Maria began, but she was interrupted almost immediately, "No Maria, no buts, they're adults now and it's high time they began acting like it. This is still Santana's home and if they're not going to treat her with consideration and respect while they're here then they're no longer welcome to visit." Both Joseph and Matthew looked shocked, "That's not fair! Just because she's the favourite!" Maria didn't quite manage to stifle a laugh at this. Leon sighed and grabbed his coat, "We'll be back later, don't wait up."

"You can't keep running away every time she causes an argument Leon." Maria called, he stopped in his tracks for a moment before replying, "Funny, and here I was thinking you were the one causing the problems in this family."

When Leon made it in to the driver's seat of his car Santana was sitting in the passenger's seat with her knees pulled up to her chest and tears streaming down her face. He studied her face and suddenly she was four-years-old again and he had just told her he couldn't be there for her fifth birthday party; her heart was breaking and so was his. It had been hard enough realizing he was falling out of love with his wife, he could only imagine how painful it must be for Santana to go through it with her mother and not even understand why.  
They sat in silence for a few minutes then, just as Leon was about to put his keys in to the ignition Santana spoke in a cracked whisper, "Why can't you work in Ohio? There's loads of sick people here too."  
"I'm sorry, when I took this job I thought it would bring you and your mother closer. I never imagined things could be this way." he replied, looking down at his young daughter and mentally kicking himself. "I'm sorry too, I should try harder with her." she said, her voice rising above a whisper this time. When her father didn't say anything in reply for a moment she turned her head to see a single tear rolling down his cheek and then he was hugging her so tightly she thought her lungs would explode. "Don't you ever apologize for her, none of this is your fault. I'm going to fix this, we just need to see it through the summer."  
"Then what?"  
"Then me and you will figure it out together." he replied. Santana started crying again and only just managed to croak out "I love you Papa."  
"I love you too San."


	15. Chapter 15

**Okay I know I suck for updating on time! But I've been pretty sick and I've had shit going on at home and stuff so my motivation has been like... zero. There's a reason I'm building up to the holiday so much btw, I know some of you are frustrated and impatient for that particular chapter but soon enough you will see why it's so important that I don't rush it.**

**So anyway my beloved readers, here is chapter 15, read/review/ENJOY! :) **

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When the time finally came for the three girls to take their vacation to Scarborough in England, Santana naturally spent the night at Brittany's house the night before they left.

"Brittany, you wont need three skii jackets." Santana said rolling her eyes and pulling them out of Brittany's suitcase. "Didn't Mo- I mean, didn't your mom check your case?" she continued, also removing several boxes of instant cupcake mix from Brittany's bright yellow suitcase.

"Uh she said you'd probably know better what I will and wont need." the blonde replied, looking thoughtful, then indignant as she complained, "Hey! I really want to make cupcakes when we're there." she said pouting.

"Britt, we'll be too busy doing other things to want to make cupcakes, we make them like every other Friday at Quinn's house anyway."

"But what if you can't sleep, cupcakes always help you sleep better." Santana blushed and mumbled something about being too tired out from running around after her and Quinn to have trouble sleeping, but in spite of herself she let Brittany take one box in her case.  
"Britt, is that my... Britt! How did you get my blankie in your suitcase!" Santana looked mortified, there was no way Quinn could ever find out she still slept with a security blanket. Brittany turned round looking bashful, "Uh I sneaked it in to my bag the other night. I knew you wouldn't want to take it 'cause of Quinn but you hate sleeping in strange places without it so I just thought... " she trailed off nervously. Santana stood there for a moment, unable to think of a good excuse not to go along with Brittany's plan.

"Okay, FINE. But if Quinn asks it's yours. Okay?" Santana said, once again rolling her eyes.

"Okay!" Brittany replied smiling broadly, and with that she lay back on her bed and allowed Santana to continue checking her case. After another hour of Santana removing and adding various items she zipped up Brittany's suitcase and stumbled over to the bed rubbing her eyes which were itching with fatigue. With some difficulty (Brittany had a new bed and Santana still hadn't hit any sort of growth spurt) she heaved herself up on to the bed next to her best friend and wriggled over to her. "Britt." she said softly. "Are you asleep?"  
Brittany rolled over slightly and mumbled, "No you can't have that rainbow, it's San's." before letting out a large sigh in her sleep.  
Smiling to herself Santana pulled the covers over her and Brittany as gently as she could so as not to wake her slumbering friend, then putting her arms around the blonde girl's waist tightly, she herself fell in to a deep and peaceful sleep.

What seemed only five minutes later Lena was gently shaking Santana awake, she rubbed her eyes and sat up, Brittany was no where to be seen. "Time to get up sleepyhead, you girls have to leave in two hours." Lena said, tucking a strand of hair behind Santana's ear.  
"Where's Brittany?" Santana asked, her voice thick with sleep, causing Lena to chuckle, "She's been up for about an hour, she's downstairs trying to get Katya to stop crying." This didn't surprise Santana, for the past week Katya had alternated between pretending her 'big sisters' (she had stopped referring to Santana as simply "Brittany's friend" long ago) weren't going away for a fortnight and throwing tantrums about the fact that they were that could put Santana herself to shame.  
"I guess I better lend a hand." she said sliding off the bed and in to the pink slippers Lena kept under Brittany's bed for whenever she stayed the night (which was far more often than not). Before Lena could protest and insist she ate some breakfast first Santana was down the ladder and on her way to the source of muffled yet loud sobbing. She sat down on the bed for a moment and simply gazed at the indent in Brittany's mattress made by the two girls sleeping in more or less the exact same position every night that Santana was there.  
She sighed and wished things could stay that way forever, that her girls wouldn't have to lose their innocence or their freedom to be as together as they wanted in any way they felt was right. And then she thought about the young girl two floors beneath her she knew by now was already helping Brittany and Katya through their morning routine with expertise and experience that no ten-year-old ought to have.

"Hey Kitty-Kat, where's my breakfast?" as soon as Santana entered the kitchen Katya stopped crying and jumped down off her stool and bumping in to the kitchen table, "I'm too old for you to call me that." she said with a pout almost identical to Brittany's.  
"You'll never be too old for me to call you that." Santana said yawning and ruffling Katya's hair as she made her way to the refrigerator. "Maybe not but if she's anything like me she'll be big enough to floor you by the time she's eight." Brittany said sleepily as she mopped up the milk that had spilt from her bowl of Lucky Charms when Katya had nudged it.  
Santana scowled for a moment then decided she was too excited to be hungry and took Katya's now empty seat next to Brittany; picking up a discarded newspaper and rustling the pages. "Since when do you read the papers?" Brittany asked through a mouthful of cereal.  
"Since like forever, you're usually still asleep." Santana replied, scanning the headlines.  
"But newspapers are boring, they're for like, grown-ups and college students." Brittany said, looking at Santana with her head cocked to one side like a confused puppy. Santana simply shrugged and put the paper down again.  
"It gives me something to talk to my Papa about when he calls."  
"I thought he was nice, not like your mom." Brittany said, even more confused than ever. Santana took a sharp intake of breath before continuing, "He's the best, you know that. He's nothing like Maria. It's just sometimes it's more fun to talk about things happening in the rest of the world than what's going on at home." she said, turning away and gazing at the photos on the mantelpiece.

Brittany followed her eyes to the large photograph of Brittany being hugged and kissed by Lena which Brittany had decorated with gold stars when she was Katya's age. She wanted to grab her friend and hug her fiercely but she knew Santana would be embarrassed that Brittany knew what she was thinking about and instead made a suggestion, "Do you want me to wash your hair?"  
Santana snapped back to reality, "What?". Brittany giggled, "You haven't had a bath yet this morning, do you want me to wash your hair while you do?" Santana squirmed in her seat, they skinny-dipped all the time and it's not like they hadn't been seeing each other's bodies since before Santana could even speak English but since New Year she'd felt uneasy about that whole part of their friendship. "Uh, wouldn't that be kind of weird? It'd be like taking a bath together."  
Brittany shrugged, "Not really, I know you have trouble washing yours yourself because it's so long and you're really tiny so I can just sit and braid my hair till you want me to wash yours or something." Santana didn't feel sure but Brittany was her best friend and what Brittany wanted, Santana always did her best to give her. "Okay."

While she was running the bath Lena felt a tugging at her shirt and turned to see Santana looking at her with those large brown eyes that were telling her she wanted something, "What is it San?"  
"Can I have lots of bubbles?"  
Lena laughed slightly and bent down so she was eye level with the girl "Last time you had a bath here you said you were too old to have bubbles, eh?" Santana blushed and mumbled, "Well I uh, Katya was watching, she would have teased."  
"Hmm okay, but remember you can't be in long, the Fabrays will be picking you girls up soon. Are your bags ready?"  
"Yes, Jack took them downstairs already." Santana said, smiling and tying her hair back loosely. "Okay then, I'll yell if you forget to watch the time." Lena replied, shutting the bathroom door to leave Santana to it.

Once she'd been soaking in the hot water for about five minutes the bathroom door creaked open and Brittany slipped inside carrying a large jug. "Hey, you ready?"  
Santana sat up slowly and untied her hair, letting it cascade around her shoulders, then turned so she was sitting with her back to Brittany. "Yeah."  
Brittany knelt down and dipped the jug in to the steaming bath, then gently pushed Santana's head forward to soak her hair. "I love your hair." Brittany said adoringly as she ran her fingers through Santana's dark locks. Santana remained silent while Brittany went through the process of shampooing and thoroughly rinsing her hair, when she went to run conditioner through the ends of her hair however Santana jumped and squealed as Brittany's cold bracelet brushed against her bare skin. "Britt!"  
"Sorry!" Brittany said giggling, "I forget how jumpy you are."  
"Am not!" Santana replied splashing water behind her at Brittany, who shrieked and began tickling Santana mercilessly, "Hey! No fair!" she cried, turning round and grabbing Brittany's shirt; in one quick movement hauling her in to the bath causing water to spill over and flood the bathroom floor. Brittany gasped and looked at Santana, they both hesitated for a moment before bursting in to gales of laughter and taking handfuls of bubbles and throwing them at each other's faces.

Unbeknownst to them Quinn had arrived early because she had been too excited to wait around in her room which lately felt very large and empty when her two friends were not there with her. "They're upstairs in the bathroom Quinn, I think they're braiding Brittany's hair or something, just go right on up." Lena said whilst making last minute checks on Santana and Brittany's suitcase and directing Quinn's father towards the kitchen where Jack was making coffee. Quinn ran up the stairs eagerly, whilst Lena noticed that Santana's homework booklet from art class was sticking out one corner of her case.  
Frowning in confusion and thinking she must have packed it by accident, Lena unzipped the case slightly and the pad fell out on to the floor, leaving it open at a portraiture assignment entitled "My Family." Feeling as though she was prying but unable to avert her eyes she slowly bent down to pick it up, as she stood upright she carefully studied Santana's slightly un-proportional yet delicately drawn picture:  
To the left of the page Santana stood by her father who was smiling and had both his hands on her shoulders, whilst in the background Maria and who could only be her brothers were stood with blank faces in dark clothing. Her eyes were then drawn to the right of the page where the four Pierces stood in the foreground smiling in bright clothing, Brittany in particular decked out in vibrant reds and yellows. Both the drawn versions of Santana and Brittany were depicted to be looking at each other lovingly and Santana's hand, though it was a very subtle gesture, was reaching towards the four family members.

A scream broke in to her thoughts and she quickly closed the pad and replaced it in it's original location. The scream had come from upstairs and her first thought was to check Katya's room.  
Meanwhile Quinn had opened the door to the Pierce's bathroom only for her eyes to be greeted by the sight of Brittany tackling a completely clothe-less Santana in a now half-full bathtub. "What the heck are you two doing!" she shrieked at the two mortified girls.  
"We were just... messing around." Brittany mumbled, pulling herself out of the bathtub and throwing a towel to Santana. "Jeez Q, calm your panties." Santana said as she wrapped it around herself.

"Messing around? MESSING AROUND? That's what my sister does with her BOYFRIEND. What is wrong with you guys? You always take baths together or something?" Quinn's eyes were wide with shock. "Get out so I can get dressed Fabray." Santana snapped. Only too happy to oblige Quinn stalked out and bumped in to Lena in the hallway.  
"Quinn, was it you who screamed? What's wrong?"  
"Uh, um. Santana and Brittany were just... " Being Santana and Brittany, Lena and Quinn thought at the same time. "C'mon, Kat will want to say goodbye to you." Lena interjected, taking Quinn's hand; pulling her to Katya's bedroom, casting a look behind her and seeing Brittany through the slightly ajar bathroom door gently wiping a tear from Santana's flushed cheek.

Katya was sitting crossed-legged on her bedroom floor, tightly hugging a scruffy, stuffed cat toy. Lena nudged Quinn inside then closed the door behind her to turn her attention to the girls in the bathroom. "Hey Kat.. "  
"It's KATYA - oh, it's just you Quinn." the little girl said looking surprised; quickly shoving the cat under her bed. Quinn giggled, "Santana gave you that when you were born, right?"  
Katya blushed, "Um, yeah. Brittany was mad though because she said it would chase the duck she gave me. I wish I could have been able to remember THAT argument. How do you know that anyway?"  
"Santana talks about you and your mom a lot when Brittany falls asleep early at sleepovers." Quinn said smiling. Katya looked up again, "Really?" she asked quietly, noticing Quinn had cast her eyes over to a school photograph hanging on the wall of the two sisters.  
"You're gonna miss her a lot huh? I mean, two weeks is a long time when you're little." This caused Katya to do something that was a cross between Brittany's pout and Santana's scowl, making Quinn laugh. "I'm not THAT little, but yeah I'll miss her, she's like... my sister after all."  
Suddenly Lena could be heard calling her name and Quinn ran over to give Katya a tight hug. "Be good okay? We'll bring you back lots of presents."  
"You better!" Katya replied grinning. "Oh and Quinn?" Quinn paused on her way out of the room. "Yeah?"  
"I was talking about San."  
"Yeah, me too."


	16. Chapter 16

**AN: I suck I know, I take forever to update these days and I know it's losing me a lot of readership so I am extremely grateful to those of you still reading and reviewing. I could have updated a little sooner but I felt I owed you guys a decent chapter and I hope you feel I delivered. I haven't got much else to say right now so without further ado my dearest readers, I present you, Calm Before the Storm: Chapter 16.**

**Enjoy :)**

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The moment they stepped out the car and in to the parking lot of the airport Quinn grinned, Santana put on her "I'm not scared of anything" face and Brittany's hands grew clammy. "You ready for the flight girls?" They all nodded with varying degrees of enthusiasm. Brittany's grandmother had wanted to make the flight with the girls so she could see Katya briefly, but Quinn's father had insisted on seeing his daughter safely on and off the plane.  
"I'm scared." Brittany whispered to Santana, tightening her grip on the smaller girl's hand. "You'll be fine, I brought your colouring book in my carry-on bag." she replied.  
"But I don't have any crayons."  
"I brought those too." Santana said trying to hide her smile as Brittany's face lit up. "You're the best San."  
"Don't thank me yet, I expect at least three drawings for me on the blank pages at the back of the book." Santana said, attempting to wink (she still hadn't gotten the hang of only closing one eyelid at once) and making Brittany giggle. "Deal."

"Hey you guys, wanna get over here?" Quinn called as her Daddy loaded the girls' cases on to a luggage cart and began wheeling it towards their terminal. The duo scuttled quickly over to join the two Fabrays who were waiting to check the foursome in. After confirming their seat numbers Quinn's father took them to the nearest café in the airport.  
As soon as they took their seats Quinn batted her eyelids in sickening fashion at her Daddy (Santana mimed gagging to Brittany who had to clamp a hand over her mouth to keep herself from bursting out laughing), "Daddy, can I have a latte?" she pronounced the word 'latte' in what the other girls supposed was meant to be a sophisticated English accent. However it only caused the other girls to stuff their fists in to their mouths and duck under the table in fits of silent laughter.  
"No Quinny, you have a fourteen hour flight ahead of you. You'll be exhausted by the time the plane lands if you stay up from all the caffeine."  
"What's caffeine?" Brittany asked. "It's a drug." Santana replied, yawning after their momentary hysterics. "No it's not, drugs are bad. People that take drugs go to Hell." Quinn said glaring at Santana.  
"Now, now Quinny, Santana's actually right, it's just a different kind of drug. Like medicine, but much weaker." Quinn looked mortified at being corrected by her precious Daddy in front of her friends. Santana smirked and Brittany gave her pinky a squeeze under the table.  
They spent the couple of hours before boarding time exchanging flight stories (Quinn had the most), silly jokes (the area in which Brittany excelled) and useless yet interesting trivia (Santana's forté). Soon enough though it was time to get on the plane and Brittany's nerves began getting the better of her once again. "San, San?" she said quietly, gently tugging on Santana's hand.  
"What is it?" Santana whispered back. "I'm scared again." Santana turned to study her best friend's face which was wracked with fear, she gave Brittany's hand a tight squeeze and put her free arm around her waist. Quinn looked at them from the corner of her eye and winced. She didn't understand why they had to act so... 'gay' as Noah Puckerman had put it. All the time.

Half-way through the flight Brittany finished the last sheet in her colouring book and had exhausted every possibility for "I-Spy" with Quinn. Looking to her left she observed Santana asleep at the window seat with her hands gently grasping Brittany's knee. "San, are you awake?" she whispered, running her fingers gently across Santana's hand. Santana murmured and shifted so her head lay on Brittany's shoulder, fitting perfectly in to the crook of the blonde girl's neck. Brittany smiled and turned to her right, Quinn was now asleep with a blanket tucked firmly around her while her Daddy lay awkwardly with a neck pillow, apparently leaving Brittany the only conscious member of their group.

Deciding she may as well get some sleep she snuggled in to Santana and took her hands, just as she was closing her eyes she heard a mother across the aisle reading a story to her young child.  
"...he married the princess and they lived happily ever after." Brittany smiled to herself.  
"San? Do you remember our princess drawings in the first grade?" Santana sighed in her sleep and gripped Brittany's hand tightly. Brittany continued whispering in her ear, "I still want you to be mine." she kissed Santana on the forehead as gently as she could and finally lay her head down to sleep, unaware that Quinn had stirred and sat watching her with one eye wide open.

A groggy Santana awoke two hours before their flight was due to land in London. Everyone around her seemed to be fast asleep and all the lights were off. Immediately recognizing the feeling of Brittany's body pressed against her own she looked up carefully so as not to wake the other girl. She seemed to have one arm around Brittany's waist while the other was firmly grasping the blonde girl's left arm.  
Very slowly she lifted her head from Brittany's shoulder and rubbed her eyes with the hand previously holding Brittany's. She held her breath as Brittany gave a light sigh in her sleep and nuzzled her face in to Santana's neck, her lips pressing gently against Santana's skin.  
She shivered at the contact before mentally shaking herself. "Get it together, you're not even supposed to like boys kissing you yet, let alone your best friend who is a girl." She told herself firmly. She sat stock still for the next few moments staring out the window, not that there was much to see but because for once she didn't want to look at her best friend.

Roughly five hours later plus a tearful goodbye between Quinn and her father (Santana once again mimed gagging to Brittany) and the three girls were in Brittany's grandparents' car, pulling in to the driveway of their rather large house.  
"Wow, it's even bigger than my house." Quinn whispered, absolutely gob-smacked. Brittany smiled and Santana smirked approvingly. After Brittany insisted on giving her friends a tour of the house her grandparents disappeared in to the kitchen to start on a late dinner, leaving the girls to themselves.

"So which bedrooms are we sleeping in?" Quinn asked, heaving her large pink suitcase after her while Santana dragged both hers and Brittany's cases along with no apparent difficulty.  
"Um, well there are about six bedrooms so we can pretty much take our pick." Brittany replied as she showed them every bathroom, bedroom and cupboard alike. After inspecting three bedrooms they came to a large one on the first floor with twin single beds and a huge bay window with a wide, velvet window seat.  
"Only two beds in here." Quinn pointed out, but Santana had dropped her and Brittany's cases and ran over to a small pentagonal door in the wall, wrenching it open her eyes were met with the sight of a surprisingly large counter top in a fairly small cupboard with an old-fashioned train set laid out on it.  
"San! We're gonna look on the second floor." Brittany called to her. Santana traced her fingers lightly along the lettering of the many different styles of model trains and blew dust off the plastic trees and spare pieces of metal track  
"I want this one." she replied. "There's only two beds." Quinn repeated.  
"Like me and Brittany ever sleep in separate beds anyway." Santana retorted. "She has a point." Brittany interjected, sensing an incoming argument. And so it was settled, Santana insisted on her and Brittany taking the bed nearest the cupboard, surreptitiously stuffing her security blanket under the pillows when she was sure Quinn wasn't looking.

That night Quinn and Brittany fell asleep early after steaming mugs of cocoa and various stories about Brittany when she was small from her grandparents. These stories also included their first meeting with Santana, when they had shown up to Brittany's birthday party a little late, Santana had answered the door and they had asked her where the birthday girl was.  
Completely unaware of who she was talking to Santana had answered "You mean Brittany?"  
"Yes, yes, my Brittany." her grandmother had said fondly to which Santana replied "You mean MY Brittany." folding her arms and scowling, causing Brittany's grandmother to laugh, catching Santana off-guard.

Now everyone else was asleep and Santana lay cross-legged on the floor of the train-set cupboard, inspecting each individual train, attempting to figure out why they didn't move when she had flipped the power switch on earlier.  
The small red lamp in the cupboard offered her little light to work by but she decided against turning on the larger one on her and Brittany's bedside table in case she woke the other girls. Feeling cold she tip-toed over to the bed to find her blanket. Making sure Quinn was still fast asleep she lifted the covers off of Brittany as slowly as she could, her eyes attempting to pick out the faded pink material of her blanket.  
She gave an inward groan as she saw Brittany was using it as a pillow, replacing the duvet she scuttled back to the trains, sitting once again with her back to the cupboard door.

After a few minutes, Santana heard creaking but put it down to the fact the house was large and incredibly old. Then suddenly she felt something fall around her shoulders and she almost screamed out, but clamped her hand over her mouth just in time.  
"Brittany!" she whispered angrily, the blonde stifled a giggle and sat down behind her friend. "What are you doing up?"  
"Trying to fix these damn trains." Santana mumbled, "What are you doing up? You scared the bejeezus out of me."  
"Sorry, you looked cold." Brittany said, wrapping Santana's blanket tightly round her shoulders. Santana smiled and untensed. "I was." Brittany nodded and shuffled forward so her arms and legs enveloped Santana from behind, laying her head on her friend's shoulder and closing her eyes contentedly.  
Smiling even more broadly at the warmth and comfort of Brittany's body, Santana picked up another train, prising part of the casing off to look inside. Meanwhile Brittany's fingers traced the words "I love you." over and over on the smaller girl's stomach.

The girls quickly fell in to a routine over the next few days. Every morning they would have breakfast in the garden with Brittany's grandparents, then they would go to the beach which was only a fifteen minute walk away, spend hours frolicking in the surf and sand like they were in kindergarten again and make do with ice-cream for lunch. On their sixth day in England Santana insisted on paying for Brittany to ride one of the donkeys on the beach which were so popular with tourists. Santana watched at a distance whilst kicking sand over Quinn's towel making the blonde girl shriek in protest and chase Santana in to the water, but for once they weren't seriously arguing and when Quinn tackled Santana in to the salt water Santana simply laughed and ducked Quinn under as a large wave came crashing towards them.

Relaxed by the slow and steady steps of her donkey, Brittany watched her two friends with a lazy grin on her face. This was definitely the best vacation she'd ever had.

Meanwhile Quinn resurfaced, spitting out a mouthful of disgustingly salty sea-water. She turned to Santana with an irritated expression on her face but when she saw Santana throwing her head back and laughing so freely, but without malice she quickly closed her mouth again. Santana continued to laugh and fell backwards in to the water, her hands on her stomach and her wet hair shining magnificently in the summer sunlight. For a fleeting moment Quinn saw why Brittany could never say no to Santana before catching herself and replacing her mind on planet Earth. "You're not gay, stop looking at her, God hates gay people." a voice in her head was saying, though another voice was saying "But God loves everyone."

Quinn pulled frantically at her hair and tears began streaming down her face, Santana stopped laughing when she noticed, "Jeez I'm sorry Quinn, did you get salt in your eyes?" at hearing actual concern for her well-being in Santana Lopez's voice Quinn's confusion overwhelmed her and she jumped up to run over to Brittany, leaving Santana sitting in the gently lapping waves equally confused.

Brittany had seen Quinn looking at Santana in the same way Santana looked at Brittany when she thought she wasn't looking, and for a split second she felt like she was going to throw up. Why did her tummy feel funny? Like there was a knot in it, re-tying itself over and over again. She'd been envious before, what ten-year-old girl hadn't? But for the first time she could pin-point, Brittany Pierce was jealous.

The rest of their vacation passed extremely calmly, yet contentedly. On their last night there Santana was once again awake after everyone else; in the train cupboard, almost crying with frustration. She just had to get this damned train-set to work though she didn't quite know why. She heard the door open and looked round expecting to see Brittany standing there, so she was surprised when Quinn shut the door behind her and sat down next to her.  
"You're up late, Fabray." Santana remarked, without looking at her. "I couldn't sleep, I wish we could stay longer." Quinn replied. This also surprised Santana. "Really? I thought you were a total Daddy's girl, don't you miss him?"  
"Of course, but I would totally love to spend the rest of the summer here. It's so... "  
"Peaceful." Santana said, finishing the sentence for her. "Yeah, I never thought I'd love it so much."  
"This is the house where Brittany was born." Santana said absent-mindedly, catching Quinn by surprise. "Really? But you two met in pre-school?"  
"They moved to Ohio when she was one, but didn't you guess from the name? Brittany means 'From Britain'." Santana said as she fiddled with the cables inside the train-set's battery pack.  
"But her parents are Dutch?" Quinn queried, very confused by this point.

"Yeah, but her mom's parents moved here when Lena was thirteen, that's why she says funny words sometimes. It's British slang. And I think she met Jack when they were both studying in London. They got talking one night when they realized they were both from the same town in the Netherlands."  
"How did your parents meet?" Quinn wondered aloud. Santana stopped what she was doing for a moment and turned to Quinn. "You know, I've never asked. Weird." she said as though it were the most normal thing in the world before returning to her task, missing the look of shock on Quinn's face.

"Here, try this." Quinn picked up a crocodile clip that was lying on the floor and handed it to Santana who quickly clipped it on to the red wire loose inside the power back and slipping the other side of the clip on to a blue wire. Replacing the casing they stood up and held their breaths. Santana quickly flipped the switch and suddenly several trains placed on the track began squeaking round and round the delighted girls. Santana squealed and her and Quinn did a little jig before hugging each other tightly. When they realized what they were doing they let go quickly and awkwardly mumbled in unison about sleeping because they had an early start. Reluctantly Santana shut off the train-set and closed the cupboard door.

* * *

After Lena had dropped off Quinn home safely she made the journey to the Lopez's house, trying her hardest not to look at the expression of dismay that had settled in to Santana's face after she'd told her that Leon wouldn't be home for another four days. _"Can't I stay tonight Lena? Please?"_ Lena winced, she hated saying no to Santana almost as much as Brittany. The fact Santana was speaking to Lena in Dutch for the first time in a while somehow made her feel even worse.  
_ "You know I would say 'yes' any other night San but your mom will want to see you."_ She replied sadly.

Eventually they came to Santana's driveway and Santana reluctantly jumped out the car to retrieve her suitcase from the trunk with Brittany's help. Lena looked at the house however and a chill went down her spine. Something wasn't right.

Whilst the girls were distracted with the removal of Santana's luggage from the car Lena opened her door and took a few tentative steps towards the house. All the lights were out and the front door stood slightly ajar; a dozen letters could be seen protruding from behind it. She turned to tell Santana she'd changed her mind and that she could stay but it was too late. Santana stood staring at the house, her brown eyes wide with fear and confusion.  
"San."  
"Wait here."  
"San, get back in the car."  
"It's my house so wait here!" Santana yelled angrily, leaving both Pierce's speechless. Brittany walked over to her mother and timidly took her hand, squeezing it tightly. Santana walked slowly to the front door and pushed it open, the house was freezing and almost completely devoid of light. Swallowing and reminding herself that she, Santana Lopez was not afraid of anything, she made her way to the kitchen. She looked around for some clue to tell her what the Hell was going on.

Then she saw it. A single post-it note on the verge of falling off of the refrigerator. Feeling like she was going to throw up Santana forced herself to pick it up and read it:

_**I'm so sorry.**_

She was in a daze, her mind blanked and she couldn't think or feel anything. She didn't even notice her legs running up the stairs or her arms wrenching open her parent's bedroom door, or her chapped fingers as they scoured every drawer and cupboard and bathroom for some sign that her mother was still there. Nothing. Unable to breathe properly she bent over and this time she actually did throw up, all over the sink.

Suddenly her brain began working again and she walked weakly down the stairs and in to the front garden. She couldn't have been away for more than five minutes but Lena and Brittany stood looking petrified. "San..."

"She's gone."

Then she turned away from those bright blue eyes she had relied on for so many years. And she ran.


	17. Chapter 17

**I'm really excited to see how this chapter works with the story so far, I've had this idea in my head pretty much since the first few chapters of CBTS so I'm glad I finally got to start writing it. Also I know the original summary stated I'd be writing up till "Journey" in the timeline but I didn't think I'd be writing about their pre-high school lives so much so I'm probably going to finish this fic before Glee club and do a sequel if people want.**

**Anyway, enough rambling from me, here is chapter 17 of Calm Before the Storm. R/R/Enjoy!**

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"Dr. Lopez's line please."  
Brittany looked up at her mother who had taken out her cell the moment Santana had disappeared, Brittany had made to run after her but Lena held her back. "You'll never catch her." she had said, and Brittany knew she was right. Tears ran fast and furiously down the girl's face as she followed her mother in to the dark house.  
Brittany shivered when they stepped over the threshold, it was like stepping inside a ghost. It looked just as it always had done but it lacked any kind of warmth, colour or presence, bar the muddy footprints made by Santana's sneakers as she had ran up the stairs.  
Lena scrabbled along the top of the mantelpiece for the spare key Santana had mentioned a few times in the past and made sure all the windows were shut before locking the front door and taking Brittany back to the car. She was still on hold.  
_"Mom, what are we going to do?"_ Brittany asked, her voice trembling. Lena exhaled slowly and turned the key in the ignition. _"I'm going to speak to Santana's daddy then we're going to find her_." Brittany was about to reply when the stereotypical music playing down the phone stopped abruptly and Lena put a finger to Brittany's lips, signaling for her to be silent.  
"Leon? Yes it's me, Lena." Brittany struggled to hear what he was saying but the cellphone was very quiet.  
"You need to come home straight away, Maria's gone." Apparently Leon didn't wait to hear why as the next minute Brittany could hear the dial tone and Lena was replacing her cell in her pocket.  
"Let's go."

After a minute Santana's mind shut down again and she simply allowed her legs to carry her as far away from her neighbourhood as possible, she didn't even realize how long or where she'd been running until she found herself in the woods behind the Lima cemetery. She slowed to a walk and shivered, it was cold outside.  
She came to the stone wall of the cemetery and scaled it with miraculous ease considering her height and looked around, it was deserted. "It must be pretty late." she muttered to herself, then jumping slightly, the sound of her own voice sounding so foreign.

She walked a little longer and finally slumped down behind a gravestone, the marble incredibly cold even through her clothes, but she didn't feel it, all she could feel was hurt and confusion. Her eyes had been dry the entire time she was running but now she let the tears fall freely.  
She couldn't have been sitting for more than ten minutes before she heard light footsteps on the gravel of the path, she froze and held her breath; hugging her knees to her chest and chanting "I am Santana Lopez and I am afraid of nothing." over and over inside her head.

The footsteps seemed to be heading in her direction, getting closer and closer. Suddenly they stopped and Santana dared looking behind her, poking her head out from behind the headstone she had been sitting behind. Her eyes met with wide blue ones and she let out a scream, the owner of the blue eyes began screaming too and Santana scrambled to her feet and made to run but tripped over a log and fell flat on her face.  
Silence. Then, "Santana?" a timid voice said. Santana was snapped back to full consciousness and whipped her head around, standing before her with a concerned frown on his face was a boy from her school. "Are you okay?" the boy continued.  
"What's it to you?" she snapped, causing the boy to take a step backwards. Santana dragged herself to her feet and brushed dirt from her clothes. "You get your kicks from scaring people or something?" she asked angrily. "Well you were the one hiding." the boy pointed out.  
"I was- I mean I... " Santana faltered before sitting down on the log she had tripped over. "How do you know my name?" she said at last. "I was on the school bus that day you punched Dave Karofsky." the boy replied, picking at one of his fingernails. "Oh." Santana thought back to that day.

"San we're gonna be late!" Brittany had called when Santana stopped to tie her shoelaces. "I'll just be a second, find us a seat." she replied, desperately trying to remember which way she tied the knot. Tying shoelaces was definitely not one of her strong-points.  
When she made it on to the bus she noticed Brittany standing in the aisle instead of sitting down waiting for her. "Britt?" she called. Then a bright yellow lunchbox went soaring over her head and in to the hands of Dave Karofsky. Brittany turned at the sound of Santana's voice and ran towards her, Santana saw tears on Brittany's face and then Santana saw red.  
Without hesitation she whipped round and her fist flew in to Dave's mouth, causing him to drop Brittany's lunchbox and double over, clutching his mouth which Santana was pleased to see, was dripping blood. "Be a good boy and sit down Karofsky."

"Santana, are you okay?" the boy was saying, she snapped back to reality.  
"What?"  
"Are you okay?" the boy repeated, he had sat down on a large stone in front of the headstone Santana had been sitting against previously.  
"No." she replied quietly. The boy looked surprised, "What's wrong?"  
"My mom ran away." the moment she said it she collapsed in to tears again, saying it out loud somehow making it real.  
"Why?" the boy looked mildly intrigued and crossed one of his legs over the other.  
"She hates me." Santana replied sniffing.  
"My mom's gone too."  
"Where?"  
The boy gestured to the headstone next to them and Santana came to the horrible realization she had previously been sitting against his mother's gravestone.  
"Fuck, I'm sorry, I didn't reali- I mean, I didn't thi- I mean… How long?" she finished rather timidly.  
"Almost three years now." The boy was standing now, with one hand tracing his mother's name. Then he started walking.  
"Hey, wait! What's your name?" Santana called out; scrambling to her feet. The boy paused but didn't turn around. "Kurt. Kurt Hummel."

Meanwhile Lena and Brittany were speeding towards their own home. _"I thought we were going to find Santana?"_ Brittany said with a questioning glance at her mother. Lena tightened her grip on the steering wheel._ "We are, we're just going to get some help first."_  
_"Not Kat."_ Brittany replied.  
_"What do you mean 'Not Kat'?"_  
_"She'll freak if we tell her Santana's missing, San wouldn't want that."_  
_"Right now Santana doesn't know what she wants."_ Lena replied coolly. _"Even if she doesn't, I do and you know that. And she wouldn't want to worry anyone else, so no Katya and no Daddy."_ Brittany said through gritted teeth.  
Lena was a little unnerved at how serious her usually bubbly daughter was being, and gave in, turning the car around. _"Okay, where would she go?"_  
_"To the stars."_

Santana caught up with Kurt and grabbed his arm, "Wait up!"  
"Why?" he said, looking her up and down.  
"I uh… you wanna get some ice-cream?" Santana tried, looking at him with pleading eyes. Kurt sighed. "Oh alright then." Santana gave a small smile and after a moment's hesitation she took his hand gently and began leading him to her and Brittany's favourite ice-cream parlour. As they walked Santana felt something, when she was with Brittany she always felt like she was holding on to a part of herself. Now she felt like she was her own person, simply holding on to another. She willed and willed herself not to forget what that felt like.  
When they got to the ice-cream parlour Kurt nudged Santana with a crestfallen expression on his face, "I just remembered, I don't have any money with me."  
"Oh that's okay I have some." Santana replied pulling a wad of notes out her pocket, Kurt's eyes widened. "Jesus, Christmas come early for you or something?" Santana didn't understand. "What?"  
"You always get that much allowance?" Kurt asked with an envious gleam in his eyes. Santana looked down at the money in her hands and clenched her free hand. "My mom gave me money every time we had a fight, I don't spend it much so it just kind of piles... piled up." Kurt raised his eyebrows but didn't say anything else until Santana had paid for their ice-creams. "Do you think she'll come back?"  
"I don't know, her and my Papa don't get along so well." she said as she gestured Kurt back out the door of the store. "For how long?"  
"For as long as I can remember." Santana said, her eyes glazing over as she licked her ice-cream. Kurt raised his eyebrows once again but decided to drop the subject for the time being.  
"Where are you taking me?" he asked nervously when he noticed Santana had led them off the sidewalk and in to some dark trees.  
"My special place." she said, turning round and smiling voluminously at him. This unnerved him a little, he had never seen Santana Lopez smile at anyone that wasn't Brittany Pierce or Quinn Fabray. "I hate to break it to you sweetcheeks but that sounds incredibly sinister."  
"What's wrong? You scared of the dark Hummel?" Santana giggled and continued battling the undergrowth with one hand and taking the occasional slurp from her ice-cream which she was holding in the other.  
"N-no." Kurt replied, looking around anxiously and holding a branch away from his jacket at arm's length.

After ten minutes they came to the foot of a hill and Santana discarded her then empty ice-cream cone and began running upwards using both hands to steady herself. Kurt sighed and followed her, tip-toeing through the damp grass.  
When they reached the top Santana put her hands over Kurt's eyes and spun him around. "Is this the part where you push me off the back of a mountain and tell everyone it was a tragic accident?" Santana knitted her eyebrows together in confusion. "There are no mountains here. I want to show you why this place is special, walk." with that she steered him carefully round a few shrubs and bushes and sat him down on a large flat stone. "Okay, you can open your eyes now." she said grinning.  
Kurt opened his eyes and in front of him, far below him and Santana lay Lima in lights. He immediately forgot he didn't like the dark and simply sat with his mouth hanging open. "Wow... how did you find this place?"  
"Came across it when me, Britt and Quinn had a marathon game of hide and seek." Santana replied, sitting down next to him. "That's not the best bit though, look up." Kurt did as he was told and he was gob-smacked for a second time. Above him and Santana the indigo sky glistered with thousands of stars in all different sizes.  
"What the... this is amazing." he whispered. Santana hugged her knees and smirked. "Yeah, I come here when me and my mom have really big arguments. Or, I used to." she said frowning. Kurt reluctantly tore his eyes away from the sky and looked at Santana, she was looking down at her shoes and picking at the laces.  
"She'll come back." he said, giving her shoulder a gentle squeeze.  
"Maybe." They sat back and looked at the stars in silence for a few minutes before either spoke again.

"I know who you are by the way, I realized why your name is so familiar when we were paying for your ice-cream." Santana said at last.  
"What do you mean?" Kurt asked, looking puzzled. "You're the gay kid, least that's what everyone says."  
"Everyone says you're a pyscho, does that make it true?" Kurt sniped, sitting up and looking away with angry tears in his eyes.  
"Touché. Hey, don't cry. I was just... asking I guess." Santana said putting a hand on his arm, he shrugged it off and stood up. "What does it matter to you?"  
"Look Hummel, I mean Kurt. You're actually pretty cool despite what Puckerman says about you, but I can't be friends with you if everyone thinks you're gay."  
"You think I'll cramp your style? You're doing just fine by yourself there sweetheart." he replied giving her clothes a pointed look. Santana blushed and pulled him back down so he was sitting opposite her.  
"That's not what I mean, if I'm friends with you people will think me and Brittany are gay. Quinn already thinks we are, so if we hang out with you then it'll be a death sentence. My mom thought so too..." Santana explained in a pleading tone.  
"Well are you?" Kurt asked, giving her a searching look. "What? No! She's my best friend, we've just known each other for a really long time okay?"  
"Oh-kaaaay then." Kurt replied with heavy skepticism in his voice, "So this is some special once-in-a-lifetime opportunity? A night out with Santana Lopez?"  
"Okay you're definitely gay, no straight boy could be that bitchy." Santana replied, looking at him hard in the eyes. Kurt stared defiantly back. Then both of them burst in to hysterics, not quite sure what they were laughing at but doubling over all the same.

Some time later when they were lying on their backs looking at the stars Kurt murmured something so quietly Santana thought she had imagined it. "What did you say?"  
"I know why you're doing this." he replied. "Doing what?"  
"Being so defensive about the gay thing."  
"Because it's not true."  
"You're doing it for Brittany, I get it. You love her and you don't want people to hurt her." Kurt said, shifting so he was lying on his side. "I told you I'm not gay-" "But you love her." Kurt interrupted. "I love her more than anything." Santana whispered, only realizing she'd said it outloud when Kurt gave her a satisfied look and rolled on to his back again.

Suddenly voices could be heard, familiar voices arguing in rapid Dutch. Santana sat up quickly as though a poker had been pressed to her spine. "You need to get out of here, or hide, or something."  
"What? Why?" Kurt stood up and brushed grass from his clothes. "Brittany and Mo- I mean Lena are coming." she replied. "So?"  
"So Brittany will think she can speak to you in school if she sees you here with me." Santana replied frantically as she began pushing Kurt in to the tall bushes behind them. He looked hurt and pushed her hands away. "Santana!"  
"Please, for Brittany." was all she said before pushing his head down and running away and down the hill.

Lena stubbed her big toe on a rock and began cursing whilst Brittany screwed up her eyes, trying to focus on the figure running shakily towards them. "Hah! I told you!"  
She didn't get another word out before Santana crashed in to her and toppled her backwards down the hill, sending the pair of them rolling over and over till they reached the bottom.  
"Oh thank God Santana!" Lena cried running towards them. "Are you okay?"  
"I'm fine." she replied keeping a vice-grip on Brittany until Kurt who was edging round to the other side of the hill in the near distance was out of sight, just before he disappeared in to the undergrowth he stopped and gave a small wave. Santana simply smiled and allowed herself to be carried all the way back to the Pierces' car by an extremely relieved Lena.


	18. Chapter 18

**So as much as I've loved writing this fic I don't want to drag it out too long as I think new readers can be put off by pages and pages, I'll be posting another couple of updates so keep your eyes peeled. And if you liked the Calm Before the Storm Fic-verse and OC's then no worries, I'm toying with the idea of a sequel set during their middle school years, I'd love to hear your thoughts about it :)**

**Anyway, R/R/Enjoy! **

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When Lena, Brittany and Santana made it home Lena called Leon's cellphone whilst Brittany ushered Santana quickly up the stairs, away from the questioning eyes of Jack and Katya.  
Since leaving the welcome unfamiliarity of Kurt's presence Santana had retreated inside her thoughts as she was forced to face the reality that her mother had most likely abandoned her.  
All Brittany could do was sit and watch her best friend's heart break. She sat on the edge of her bed and scuffed her toes along the carpet, occasionally glancing at Santana who was standing at the window; staring out of it in a zombie-like trance.

Neither girl noticed any great length of time passing but it must have done because when Lena gently knocked on the door and peeked in she scolded them for still being in their traveling clothes.  
"Girls! It's well after midnight, get ready for bed this instant."  
Santana didn't even acknowledge she had heard but Brittany scuttled over to her dresser and pulled out two pairs of pajamas, smiling briefly at the fact they both belonged to Santana.  
Just as Lena was about to leave the room and close the door Katya shot past her and made a beeline for Brittany, squeezing her round the middle so tightly Brittany could barely breathe. _"Kat! Calm down!"_ she gasped. Lena shot a glance at Santana then closed the door as quietly as she could.  
_"Why did you sneak upstairs?"_ Katya asked indignantly with her small hands placed on her hips._ "And why is San here? I thought Momma said she couldn't stay tonight?"_ Brittany frantically clamped her hand over Katya's mouth and gestured towards Santana's stock-still stance.  
_"Change of plan Kitty Kat, Santana had some bad news, why don't you go give her a hug while I talk to Mom about something?"_ she whispered in Katya's ear, the younger sister adjusted her hearing aid and looked confused. Brittany thought for a moment before signing "Sananta's sad, I'll be back soon." before slipping out the room and downstairs, leaving Katya staring at Santana with dismay.  
Santana had listened to Brittany leave the room then resumed turning over the the night's events in her head. It seemed so absurd to think she had been star-gazing with Kurt Hummel of all people not even an hour previously that she was almost convinced she had somehow dreamt it, leaving her only with the knowledge that she had returned to a ghost of a home.

A single tear rolled down her cheek and a voice said _"Don't cry San."_ causing her to jump, she had forgotten Katya was in the room. _"Jeez Kat, don't sneak up on me like that." _she said scowling and hastily wiping her face on her sleeve. _"Sorry."_ Katya mumbled, fidgeting and looking at the floor._ "Why are you sad?" _she asked warily.  
_"What makes you think I'm sad?"_ Santana replied, causing Katya to roll her eyes in a way uncannily similar to Santana's signature eye-roll.  
_"San, I might be little but I'm not dumb, I've known you my entire life."_ Santana smiled and turned to look at Katya in the eyes. _"My mother left."_  
_"Where did she go?"_ Katya asked with a confused expression on her face.  
_"I don't know."_ Santana said sadly and walked over to the Brittany's bed.

_"I don't get it."_ Katya replied. Santana sighed and reached her hand out, gesturing for Katya to sit next to her. _"C'mere _Kitty Kat_ and I'll explain."_  
Katya jumped on to the bed and took Santana's hand in her own and held it tightly. Santana took a deep breath. _"Sometimes parents don't want to be parents anymore, so they leave."_ Katya looked absolutely bewildered. _"But that's silly, you can't just stop being someone's mom or daddy."_ She exclaimed. Santana considered her statement for a moment before replying again. _"Maybe, but they can try anyway, and my mother did."_ Katya's face fell. _"Oh, will she come back?"_

_"Good question Kat."_ Santana said with a sad smile. Katya thought for a moment before she spoke again. _"Well if she doesn't come back you can share mine, she loves you lots and so do I."_ she said as thought it settled the matter. Santana wanted to smile and offer some sort of thanks but all she could bring herself to do was pull Katya in to a tight embrace and cry uncontrollably. Katya simply patted her on the back until she stopped crying and kissed the top of her head lightly.

When Brittany located her mother in the kitchen, she was in earnest conversation with who could only be Santana's father. "So you'll be home tomorrow? First thing?" Brittany tapped her foot impatiently, alerting her mother to her presence who quickly whispered _"This is important Brittany, go to bed."_ Brittany scowled but stayed where she was.  
"Yes I have the spare key, I'll get over early and sort out things as best I can, you can swing by for Santana whenever you're ready it's no trouble at all." she saw at the corner of her eye that Brittany was still standing in the kitchen doorway and paused. "Just a moment Leon, Brittany needs something... _What is it Britt?"_  
"Can I talk to Santana's daddy please?" she asked as politely as she could muster considering her annoyance at the manner of her mother's dismissal.  
"Brittany, this is not the time- " she stopped mid sentence and Brittany could hear Leon's voice coming down the phone.

"... are you sure? Okay then." Lena reluctantly handed the phone over to Brittany and mouthed_ "Five minutes."_ before exiting to the living room presumably to talk with Jack. Brittany put the receiver to her ear and uttered a tentative "Hello?"  
"Hello Brittany, how are you?" Leon's voice came through the phone sounding remarkably calm. "I'm okay thank you, how are you?" Leon had never been the type for keeping things from his daughter and he maintined the same policy with Brittany whenever possible.  
"I'm very worried about Santana, and frankly extremely angry with her mother."  
"Me too!" Brittany replied seriously, Leon laughed, "As smart as ever I'm glad to hear." he said and Brittany could hear a genuine smile in his voice.  
"Anyway, I wanted to ask you something." Brittany continued.

"Oh? What's that then?"  
"Can... can I come home with Santana tomorrow?" There was a pause on the other end before Leon replied "I appreciate your concern Brittany but me and Santana have lots of things to talk about tomorrow."  
"I know but you'll have to call her mom and your boss and stuff and she shouldn't be left alone right now, she's super sad." Another pause, then:  
"You're one of the smartest people I've had the honour of meeting Brittany, don't let anyone ever tell you otherwise." Brittany smiled. "Oh don't worry Santana makes sure they don't." Leon laughed again. "Yes I can imagine, are you sure your mom will be okay about this?"  
"Probably not but Santana needs me way more than my mom does right now."  
"Pack an overnight bag in that case, I'll talk your mom round." Brittany whooped and thanked him profusely before saying her goodbyes and returning the phone to Lena in the living room.  
When Brittany returned to her room Katya was still there, sitting with a once again silent Santana. "Bedtime Kat." Brittany said curtly.  
"No fair!" Katya muttered but allowed herself to be dragged out the room by Brittany all the same. "Night San!" she called out, Santana looked up and let a small smile; signing "Thank you." whilst Brittany was pushing Katya out the door.

Once she had closed the door again Brittany walked over to join Santana on the bed, squeezing her hand as Katya had done.  
"San?" Santana turned her head slightly upon hearing her name, and opened and closed her mouth a few times before saying quietly "Don't speak." Brittany nodded with understanding and slid off the bed to change in to her pajamas and brush her teeth. When she returned from the bathroom she found Santana was once more standing at the window in a daze.  
She picked up Santana's pajamas and tapped her on the shoulder, Santana looked down at Brittany's hands and shrugged. Brittany gently steered her round so she was facing her and closed the blinds. Santana allowed herself to be guided away from the window and simply stared at the floor.  
Brittany said nothing; patiently removed Santana's clothing slowly and prompted Santana to lift her arms and legs while she dressed her in her faded green pajamas. Even when she was more or less completely naked Santana allowed Brittany complete control, only voluntarily moving when Brittany gestured for her to sit down on the bed before disappearing again and returning with a damp facecloth.  
She knelt on the bed next to Santana and dabbed gently at Santana's tear-swollen eyes and cheeks, remaining silent even when fresh tears soaked in to the cloth.  
Once she had turned the lights off and wriggled in to bed she began counting in her head, when she reached sixteen Santana slipped under the sheets next to her, still neither of them had said a word.

After ten minutes, when Brittany was sure Santana had fallen asleep Santana said quite clearly "I can't believe she left me." nothing more, and shuffled in to Brittany's open arms. Brittany could feel yet more tears dampening the front of her pajamas. Feeling helpless she thought hard and then remembered something.  
She pulled away and gently tilted Santana's chin upwards with her hand, stroking her cheek with her thumb she could make out Santana's in the darkness looking questioningly at her.  
"San..." she said breathlessly, and Santana understood, closing her eyes and relaxing her face as Brittany leant in and ever so softly pressed their lips together.  
Brittany felt new tears on her lips and realized with some surprise that they were her own.  
"I love you Britt." Santana whispered as her hand found Brittany's in the darkness.  
"I love you too San."


	19. Chapter 19: Santana

**So, it's winding down to the last few pages of Calm Before the Storm. It's been an amazing experience writing my first fanfic with such an amazing readership, I can't thank my regular readers and reviewers enough.**

**So, this chapter will need a little explaining. As you know the first eighteen chapters were in the third person, but I couldn't think of a justifiable way to round it off with the last chapter or two. So I decided to do a little experiment in the first person as it's not really something I've tried much when it comes to writing fic for recreation.**  
**Basically the idea is the last three chapters are from the point of view of three of the characters starting with Santana, I know it sounds kind of a bad idea to suddenly try this at the end of a fic which has so far worked okay when it comes to the narrative style. But I received a lot of positive response about the chapters which focused heavily on certain a character's train of thought, so maybe you guys would like to see how the main characters have matured so far via the way they view the events of the story? Or something... I don't know. Let me know what you think :)**

**R/R/Enjoy!**

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Santana

Yesterday was the weirdest day ever. It was bad, but compared to the day we got back from England it was pretty so-so. The three of us are starting Fifth grade tomorrow, Papa's been away somewhere sorting out his resignation, I feel bad because he's doing it because of me. Well, because of Maria I guess, but I still feel bad. I stayed at Brittany's last night, some things never change right? Quinn stayed too which was weird, she rarely joins in sleepovers that aren't at her house, but I didn't mind too much because it meant Brittany didn't bite her lip and get that worried puppy expression on her face whenever I wasn't talking too much.

I probably sound like I'm not grateful for Brittany's concern and support, I totally am I'm just going a bit crazy spending so much time at her house. That sounds crazy in itself, I'm used to spending more time here than at my own house but ever since... you know, it's like living in a giant wad of cottonwool.  
I swear even Katya has hopped on the Let's-Treat-Santana-Like-A-Baby train, I mean she's always been a cute kid and everything but she's been bringing me breakfast in bed every morning that she's up before me. And do you know they even got me a cellphone? My very own cellphone! It's crazy.

Okay so I guess I must sound like some ungrateful, spoilt Quinn-clone but it's not like that. They're doing all this because they're oh so worried about the fact Maria has run out on me and they don't want me to take it to heart and start taking drugs the second I hit Middle School or whatever. But the thing is, if they just stopped all this I'd forget about it so much faster.  
Well, obviously I won't forget I have a mom somewhere that didn't love me enough to stick around, but in all honesty things aren't all that much different now than they were before the summer. I'm still at Brittany's house half the time or Quinn's any other night, I still know more about Katya than either of my own siblings and I still spend more time with Brittany's parents than my own.  
They don't seem to understand that it's normal, I think they forget that one person's 'normal' is another person's 'crazy', and them worrying about me because Maria isn't around? As normal as that may be to them, to me that's positively insane.

Thank goodness for Kurt, I didn't think I would be able to trust him at first but so far he's been as good as his word and Brittany doesn't suspect a thing. He's totally cool and everything but people just can't know we're friends when we go back to school, Quinn wouldn't like it and Quinn is Brittany and I's fast track to the top when we hit high school. We need her and anything or anyone that could jeopardise that has to remain outside of the picture.  
So really Kurt's a pretty special exception, I wouldn't give anyone else like him the time of day, but... Well, he gets me. And I'm not saying Brittany doesn't because obviously she's my best friend and everything but she shouldn't have to listen to all my complaints, it's bad enough she has to put up with me at her house even more than usual. I mean I know she loves me and everything but I'm sure she misses only having to share her mom with Katya when right now I think Lena pays me more attention than anyone.  
And really, I think if I wasn't sneaking out and meeting Kurt every night both to remember and to forget I would have killed Quinn already. Granted we've not seen as much of her as we usually do since the holiday, it was awkward when she found out about Maria.

I'd been home when my Papa came back briefly, but then he had to leave again to do a load of "grown-up stuff" so I went back to Brittany's and my still unpacked suitcase went with me for the sake of convenience.  
So Quinn was staying last night and she was in a horrible mood for some reason, (probably because Brittany had moved from the attic room in to a room downstairs, Quinn always loved looking out the slanting window) and when we went to change in to our PJs I naturally went to Brittany's closet to take a pair out my case and Quinn gave me one of her looks. "Are you kidding me Santana?" she had said.  
"What?" I asked, feeling confused as I stripped down to my underwear.  
"Your flipping suitcase is still here? Seriously you should be paying rent the amount of time you spend here, I'm surprised Brittany's parents aren't sick of you after all these years." she snapped.  
Then it was silent. I didn't know what to say, I felt tears at the back of my eyes and blinked them away furiously. No one made ME cry, especially not Quinn Fabray of all people. Brittany looked from me to Quinn and then back to me with that lost puppy expression on her face, then she seemed to realize I was just going to let it go and something crazy happened. Brittany got mad. Brittany never gets mad.  
It was my job to be angry and aggressive when required, Brittany was the peacekeeper, the saint. But at that point she seemed to forget all that and she went nuts. "Get out." she said, clenching her fists and quivering.  
"W-what?" Quinn replied, suddenly timid and bewildered. My breath had caught in my throat and though I wanted to interrupt them I just couldn't. "I said, get out." Brittany said more calmly.  
"Britt what are you talking about? Me and Santana fight all the time and you don't bat an eyelid." Quinn said, raising her eyebrows. Brittany's face grew hot and she yelled "I said GET THE FUCK OUT MY HOUSE!"

For a crazy moment I wanted to laugh, Brittany was the oldest sure but I don't think she'd ever even tried saying the F-word till that moment, it certainly sounded foreign when it tumbled out her mouth, followed by a stream of Dutch and Spanish expletives.  
Quinn instinctively took a step back, not that Brittany would hurt a fly but with her height and the amount of time she spent practicing for dance class she was certainly capable of it. "I-I'm sorry, I didn't mean it." Quinn half-whispered.  
Brittany took a few steps over to Quinn and I forgot I was even there, it was like watching something in a dream, angry Brittany and intimidated Quinn just didn't happen in real life. "Say sorry to Santana." Brittany stuttered, her hands still shaking.

Just then Lena burst in to the room, clearly having heard Brittany screaming profanities. "What on Earth is going on in here?" she asked. Her eyes swept around the room, taking in my blank expression, Brittany's clenched fists and the beginnings of tears leaking from Quinn's brown eyes. _"Brittany, Santana, outside, now."_ she said calmly in Dutch.  
I didn't even hesitate but Brittany didn't move until my hand slipped in to hers and she seemed to deflate slightly, following me and Lena out in to the hall.  
_"So young lady? Why exactly are you using such dreadful language at the top of your voice? And why is Quinn crying?"_ she directed the second question at me, she probably had rose-tinted glasses on for the most part when dealing with me but she knew Quinn and I rarely saw eye to eye.

I found my voice again as Brittany seemed to have suddenly lost hers. _"She doesn't know._" I said. Lena looked back at me, confused. _"Why not?"_  
_"Because it's none of her business."_ I said folding my arms. Brittany scowled, _"That doesn't mean what she said was okay."_ she shot at me in Spanish, I scowled back at her; she almost laughed.  
"Brittany." Lena said sharply, _"What did she say?"_ Brittany reluctantly returned her gaze to her mother and told her, elaborating carefully in Dutch so she didn't miss anything. Lena blushed and looked at me again. "Santana..." she began, but I stopped her._ "I know, I didn't take any notice."_ She breathed a sigh of relief and scolded Brittany for swearing but opened Brittany's door again and ushered us back in.

"Quinn, can I have a word?" she said sharply. Quinn had been sitting on the floor with her knees pulled up to her chest as if she was five-years-old again. She got up nervously and followed Lena in to the hall, closing the door behind her.  
Meanwhile Brittany had walked over to the bed and swung her foot at the frame, hard. Blatantly too hard as she yelped and fell on to the floor to hold it between her hands. I shook my head and knelt down next to her, holding her hand and letting her squeeze as hard as she needed to until the pain in her toe passed.  
After a moment she punched me on the arm. "Hey! What was that for?"

"Why did you do that?" she asked, she looked mad again. "Do what? I didn't do anything." I said.  
"Exactly! You didn't do anything." she replied. I blinked a few times. "Britt, you didn't have to do anything either, it was just Quinn being stupid." I said frowning.  
She stood up again and sat on the bed, not looking at me. "You're always looking out for me and protecting me, why can't I return the favour?" she said, her voice cracking. I was shocked, she was crying? I sat on the bed next to her and put my hand on her shoulder but she shrugged it off. Which hurt.  
"Britt, c'mon." I said gently, she turned to face me and sure enough her eyes were filled with tears. "It's not fair." she said, now I was really confused. What wasn't fair? "What are you talking about Britt?" she wiped her eyes on her sleeve and took a deep breath. "You don't trust me anymore." she stuttered. I felt my jaw drop, "Brittany I trust you more than anyone in the whole wide world, you're my best friend." I assured her. She glared at me and I recoiled slightly.

"If you trusted me you wouldn't sneak out all the time, you'd wake me up and talk to me about it." she said sharply. My stomach suddenly felt like lead, but I breathed a heavy sigh of relief when she continued and made it clear she had no idea I was sneaking out to meet someone. Which really made me feel worse because it would kill her to know I was talking to Kurt about everything that had happened in the past couple of weeks and not her.

I lost myself in my thoughts and when Brittany realized I wasn't really listening to her speech about how we were supposed to be best friends forever and all of that she punched me on the arm again. Damn she was strong. "San! Listen to me."  
"Sorry, I-" but I didn't get to tell her why I hadn't been listening because she had given a frustrated sigh and kissed me on the lips, hard. She pulled away after a few seconds and looked down at her hands. "I just miss you, okay?"  
"I'm sorry." I whispered. "You're not, but it's okay." I didn't know what to say to this but Brittany didn't seem to mind and simply looked at the clock behind us. "It's kinda late, let's go to sleep."  
"What about Quinn?" I asked, a little worried that Lena had made her feel worse than Brittany had.  
_"She's sleeping with Katya tonight."_ a voice said, we turned to see Lena opening the door with two mugs of steaming hot chocolate. "Is she okay?" I asked, causing Brittany to roll her eyes. Talk about role reversal.  
_"She'll be fine, I think she's still a little bit shocked that neither of you told her."_ Lena said sternly. I bowed my head and to my surprise Brittany did the same. "Sorry." I said.  
_"Don't be silly, just get some sleep and you can talk to her about it tomorrow."_ she said tucking a strand of hair behind my ear and running a hand gently across Brittany's cheek. Then she switched on the table lamp and left, closing the door behind us, leaving us in near darkness.

Neither of us spoke for a few minutes, it was like we were back to the day we got back from England. Except this time I was okay, I handed Brittany her mug and sipped mine slowly, sinking back in to the pillows and watching her as she placed hers back on the bedside table and crawled under the covers next to me.  
"San, tell me a story." she said eventually. I thought hard and decided to just make it up as I went along, there were far too many spaceships and dinosaurs involved but Brittany was half-asleep by the time I'd finished my hot chocolate. I switched off the lamp when her breathing slowed and became heavy and Brittany snuggled closer to me; burying her face in the crook of my neck, "You're my best friend San." she said with a yawn.

I watched her sleep for a few moments then for some weird reason, since no one would hear it and saying it to Brittany felt kind of weird ever since Quinn told us that it's not normal to say that your friends, but I smiled and whispered "I love you too." because I knew that's exactly what Brittany had meant.  
When I woke up this morning Brittany was nowhere to be seen, Quinn on the other hand was sitting on the end of the bed with a mug of tea in her hands, when she saw me stirring she handed it to me nervously.

"Thanks." I mumbled, taking a grateful slurp. "Santan I-" she began, but I cut her off, for the first time and probably for the last time ever I didn't want to hear Quinn Fabray telling me she was sorry.  
"I know, it's fine. You didn't know."  
"I still shouldn't have said what I said, sometimes I just..." she trailed off looking embarrassed.  
"Sometimes you just what?" I asked, taking another sip of the slightly scalding tea.  
"SometimesI'mjealousthatyou'resoclosewiththem." she blurted it out quickly as though it was all the one word, but I understood well enough. "Jealous? Really, your family seem to totally adore you though." I said, frowning slightly.  
"I guess, but my sister doesn't spend much time with me. And I know you and Brittany are my best friends." I felt really bad when she said that, for the longest time I considered Quinn more of an irritating necessity than a real friend. "...but you have this amazing... I dunno, connection? With Kat and Lena as well as Brittany." she finished, biting her lip. I gave a shrug, "I've known this family a really long time, where is Brittany anyway?" I asked.  
"I think Jack took her for new sneakers or something." Quinn replied. I nodded and looked around the room, dozens of unwatched movie and uneaten candy was scattered around.

I thought about what I wanted to do and what was probably the right thing to do and took a deep breath.  
"Hey Quinn, I know you've never done this before but me and Brittany usually have a sleepover here before the first day of school, do you think your mom would let you stay tonight too?" I said, trying as hard I could to hide the tone of resentment trying to push its way through.  
Quinn's face immediately brightened up. "Actually my parents are out of town, my sister's babysitting, she won't mind at all."


	20. Chapter 20

**I realize I'm terrible and haven't updated Calm in FOREVER but I've had the worst block ever recently which sucks since I have so many things I need to get done. This chapter would still be festering in the depths of my hard drive if it weren't for Sara so a big thanks to her (sapphos-ghost)!**

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To say Brittany was surprised when she returned home from shoe shopping to see Santana and Quinn building a pillow fort with Katya was an understatement. The three girls were so absorbed in their task that they didn't notice Brittany standing in the doorway with a bewildered expression on her face.

After watching them for a minute, Santana's head suddenly jerked up and toward the doorway. Her smile faltered momentarily and Brittany's stomach felt like it was eating itself. She swallowed, then walked over and sat cross-legged in front of Santana as though waiting for something. And in a way, she was.

Quinn and Katya eventually emerged from underneath a sheet that had fallen from the chairs they'd attempted to drape it across, giggling and shrieking. When Quinn saw Brittany sitting there she stopped giggling abruptly and Brittany felt as though she were going to cry.

"Hey B," Santana said quietly.

"Hey."

Katya looked between the three girls with a confused expression on her face, she didn't understand why Brittany and Santana had been acting so strangely over the past couple of days but she knew it had something to do with Quinn.

"I'm gonna go see if Momma wants any help," She said standing up slowly, no one really seemed to be listening however so she simply made her way to the door, stopping to kiss Brittany on the head as she passed.

Once Katya had left and shut the door there was an awkward silence, Quinn looked between Santana and Brittany whilst Santana fidgeted and Brittany stared blankly at the floor.

"What are you guys doing?" she asked in an unusually subdued tone. Santana glanced sideways at Quinn who shrugged and fidgeted with her sleeve.

"Just hanging out," Santana replied eventually.

"We have school tomorrow," Brittany stated flatly, looking pointedly at Quinn when she was sure Santana was following her gaze.

"Quinn's staying tonight, too,"

"What? Since when?"

"Since this morning."

"It's my house." Santana looked at Brittany as though she had gone mad.

"I know Britt... But it's Quinn, she's our friend."

"You still could have asked." Brittany balled up her fists. Santana noticed immediately and stood up.

"Quinn can you give us a minute? We need a private talk."

Quinn, who had been sitting with an uncharacteristically nervous look on her face, lost no time in scrambling to her feet and out the door. As soon as she could be heard running down the stairs Santana rounded on Brittany.

"Right, Brittany. What's going on?"

"You tell me, Santana," Brittany replied, emphasizing the use of Santana's full name. Santana frowned and sat gingerly on the edge of Brittany's bed, glancing down at the space next to her. Brittany contemplated ignoring the obvious gesture for a moment before relaxing slightly and taking a seat next to Santana.

"Why do you suddenly hate Quinn? And why are you so mad? It's not like you, Britt."

"Why are you two suddenly best friends?" Brittany shot back.

Santana was beyond confused by this point. She opened and closed her mouth a few times like a guppy before simply shaking her head.

"Well?" Brittany prompted, anger even more apparent in her voice.

"You're being stupid. She's not my best friend, she's Quinn. Just Quinn."

Brittany waited. She waited five long minutes for Santana to say what she should have said next. But Santana merely stared at her feet.

"Say something," Santana mumbled eventually. Brittany looked her directly in the eyes. She looked for that burning intensity she always saw when Santana looked at her. But in that moment all she saw was fear.

"You broke your promise." Brittany said in an almost whisper.

"What? What promise?" Santana's nose scrunched up and she squinted her eyes in an effort to remember which promise Brittany was referring to. They'd made so many over the years.

"You promised we'd be best friends forever."

"Britt, we are," Santana said gently."

"Then why won't you say it anymore?"

Santana wasn't prepared for such a question. She stuttered a few times before Brittany stood up and marched out of the room, leaving Santana stunned with confusion.

Santana hugged her knees to her chest and rocked herself back and forth. After fifteen minutes or so there came a gentle knocking at the door. Thinking it would be Quinn, Santana slid off the bed and walked over to the entrance. Before she reached it however, it swung open and Lena stood there, wearing a stern expression.

Worried that Brittany had been crying, Santana took a step back and flinched when Lena reached out and grabbed her arm. Lena shook her head in dismay and kneeled down so she could pull Santana in to a tight embrace. After the initial surprise that she wasn't in fact in trouble, Santana gripped Lena's shoulders tightly and began sobbing uncontrollably.  
Lena knelt there until Santana's crying subsided and then leant back to wipe away the tears still running down her cheek with the hem of her sleeve.

Santana had no idea what she was supposed to do next so made do with standing with her head bowed, sniffing and rubbing her eyes.

Lena picked up Santana as though she were still Katya's age (and to be fair, she wasn't far off, height-wise, whilst Brittany towered above her) and carried her over to the bed. She sat down, cradling Santana in her lap.

"What's wrong, baby girl?" she asked quietly. Santana scowled and protested.

"I'm not a baby!"

Lena chuckled and tucked a strand of dark hair behind Santana's ear. "I know. You're eleven in a few weeks."

"Yeah, I am," Santana said with some surprise. Neither of them spoke for a few moments and then Santana mumbled quietly, "Do you think she'll come back?"

Lena looked down at Santana, knowing she wasn't referring to either of her friends and her heart felt as though it were breaking. She would never understand how anyone could bear to leave Santana.

Though she remembered all too well how absent Maria had always been, she had never been away; not like Leon was. But she was also never really _there_ for her daughter, either.

_"So are you looking forward to your field trip tomorrow__,__ San?" Jack asked over dinner one evening. Brittany had been talking non-stop over the past week about the third-graders' field trip to a zoo in a town a few miles away._

_Santana who had been toying with her food looked up with that deer-caught-in-the-headlights expression that Lena had grown so accustomed to over the years._

_"Uh, I'm uh- I'm not going."_

_"What? Why not?" Lena asked._

_"I uh... my mama lost my permission slip__,__" she mumbled, her cheeks glowing crimson._

_"You never told me that!" Brittany exclaimed, sounding hurt. But Santana didn't have to find an explanation as Katya knocked her cup on to the floor and Brittany shrieked as the sticky liquid seeped into one of her socks._

_"Why didn't you ask for another one?" Jack asked as he mopped up the juice Katya had spilled on to the floor._

_"It's Monday, no school yesterday silly!" Katya giggled, before noticing how upset Santana and Brittany both looked._

_"Yeah__,__ and the trip is tomorrow, remember?" Santana explained quickly, obviously attempting to bypass any further discussion on the matter._

_"So why doesn't your mama call the school tomorrow morning and explain?" Lena asked, furrowing her eyebrows._

_"Oh uh, it's fine__,__ I don't mind..." Santana began before Brittany interrupted._

_"Maria doesn't like being woken up early, that's why Santana gets the school bus. So she can't call in the morning."_

_"Britt, shut up!" Santana hissed, looking mortified._

_Jack opened his mouth to reply but Lena held up her hand and spoke instead. "I think I better run you home after dinner__,__ sweetie__.__ It is a school night__,__ after all." _

_Brittany looked outraged and stood up in her chair to protest but Santana shot her a warning glance and she backed down instantly._

_The next morning Santana was woken early by the sharp tapping noise made by a flurry of pebbles being pelted at her window. She opened the window and leaned out to be greeted by the sight of Brittany holding up a scrap of paper. Just legible were the words _**I 'lost' my permishun slip too!**

_Behind Brittany, Jack and Lena were waiting in their car while Katya waved frantically from the backseat._

_As soon as she had dressed and packed the lunch she had made herself the night before from whatever she could find in the refrigerator, Santana tiptoed out the front door ran into Brittany's outstretched arms._

_They swayed on the spot for a minute then remembered three people were waiting for them and they raced each other for the one remaining window seat in the Pierce's car._

_"So the drive might be a little longer, but who needs a boring old zoo when you can go to Cedar Point?"_ _Jack said with a wink once Brittany and Santana had fastened their seat belts._

_"We're going to Cedar Point? But what about the field trip?" Santana asked, turning to the Brittany. Brittany merely grinned and took Santana's pinky in her own._

_"It would be boring without you anyway__,__" she replied as the car began moving._

_Once they were out on the freeway__,__ Brittany's parents were engaged in conversation and Katya was occupied with drawing shapes in the condensation on her window. Santana turned to face Brittany again and whispered__,__ "You're the best Britt."_

_"What are friends for?"_

_They spent the rest of the journey asleep, with Santana's head tucked in to the crook of Brittany's neck. When they stopped for gas Jack nudged his wife and pointed to the backseat._

_"They're something else__,__" he remarked quietly._

_"They really are."_

"Lena?" Santana's voice brought her out of her nostalgic stupor and she looked down at the girl in her arms fidgeting nervously with her hair.

"I don't know, sweetheart." Santana's face fell.

"Hey, hey. Even if your Papa has to work a lot you know you're always welcome in our home. Your second home. You're family Santana, don't ever forget that."

Santana swallowed back tears and nodded.

"Is Brittany still mad at me?"

"Jack took her and Kat to feed the ducks. Quinn went home."

"Oh..." Santana's face fell again and she bowed her head.

"Whatever is going on between you two, you'll fix it," Lena assured her then stood up and made her way to the door. "You always do."

"Lena?"

"Yes?"

"Can I use the phone, please?"

"Of course, you can use the line in my room if you want some privacy. I'll be downstairs if you need anything."

"Thanks," Santana said, finally letting a smile dance across her features.

She only had to wait two rings before someone on the other end picked up and a calm female voice purred down the line "Mr. Lopez's office, may I ask who's calling?"

"H-hi, it's Santana. Is my dad around?"

"Oh Santana! Hey there, he was in a meeting but I think he should be finished now, hold on a sec,"

"Sure,"

Santana waited for a couple of minutes until she heard the phone being picked up and her father's voice saying cheerily, "Hello princess, this is a nice surprise."

"Hi Papa," Santana replied, her face splitting in to a wide grin.

"What can I do for you? Or were you just calling to say hi?"

"Actually I was wondering when you're gonna be home," Santana said nervously, twisting the phone cord round her finger.

There was an awkward pause and Santana could hear her father sighing slightly before replying.

"I'm not sure, I don't think I'll be home till next week at least."

"Oh," Santana's grin faltered "Will you be home for good though?" she asked hopefully.

"No I'm sorry sweetie but it'll be another couple of months at least before I can get a job back home."

Santana swallowed the lump that had formed in her throat as she fought back tears and took a deep breath.

"But I want to go home."

"I thought you liked staying at Brittany's?" Leon replied with some surprise.

"I do but I miss home." Santana lied. She didn't miss home at all, she just missed her papa and not fighting with Brittany.

"I'm sorry, I'm trying as hard as I can to get transferred sooner rather than later, it's a slow process. But I'm trying, okay?"

"Okay," Santana mumbled half-heartedly.

"I have to run now but I'll call you tomorrow. I love you."

"I love you too Papa." Santana said, her voice breaking just as her father hung up.

Just as Santana replaced the receiver she heard the front door opening and delighted squeals which could only belong to Katya. Santana did her best to compose herself and walked out on to the landing just as Brittany reached the top of the stairs. Both girls stood stock still, eyes locked on one another, neither uttering a word.

Then Brittany stalked in to her room, but left the door open which Santana took as permission to follow. Once both girls were in Brittany's room and door was shut Santana stood and stared. Brittany bowed her head before whispering, "I'm sorry."

"Me too."

When Brittany looked back up at Santana she still didn't see that burning intensity in her eyes. It was something though; some sort of uncertainty.

Brittany sat down on her bed and gestured for Santana to join her, somewhat reluctantly Santana did, playing once again with her hair. Brittany tugged on her shoulder so that Santana was facing her.

"I'm sorry. I'm just jealous."

"You shouldn't-" Santana began, but Brittany placed a finger to her lips.

"I know, Quinn's our friend, but we're..."

"We're what?"

Brittany took a deep breath and swallowed nervously.

"Do you remember when we were younger? When we used to play princesses and dragons?"

"Yeah, but what-"

"Just listen," Brittany commanded, Santana pressed her lips tightly together and did as she was told. "Well I was always the princess that needed rescuing, and you were always the prince because Quinn liked pretending she could be breathe fire."

Santana nodded as Brittany continued somewhat nervously.

"Well I always thought it made sense, 'cause you've always looked after me, like a prince would. But lately it's like you're the princess that needs rescuing because your mom's like this really mean dragon that made you sad."

Santana didn't know whether to laugh or cry at the comparison so she opted to continue listening patiently instead.

"And since we went to England you and Quinn have been a lot closer and I... I guess I was scared that Quinn would be the one to rescue you from being sad. But… but that's my job, because I owe it to you."

Brittany paused to take another deep breath.

"I guess what I'm trying to say is, even though I'm a girl, If you'll let me, I'll be your prince as long as you need me. Because you're my best friend."

Santana was silent for a good five minutes, unable to come up with a suitable reply. But eventually she opened her mouth and laughed. Brittany was confused, had she said something funny?

"Why are you laughing?" she asked crossly.

"Because I'm happy," Santana said in between taking deep gulps of air as she doubled over laughing.

Eventually she wiped the tears of mirth from her eyes and took Brittany's hands in her own.

"Brittany, you're a princess. You'll always be a princess and you deserve to be treated like one. But you can be my prince too if you want." Santana said smiling.

"Quinn is still the dragon, right?" Brittany asked apprehensively, causing Santana to laugh again.

"I think we have bigger dragons to worry about right now, but yeah, that's fine." Santana answered, tapping Brittany on the nose. This caused Brittany to squeal in protest and before long they were involved in an intense tickling match.

They ended up on the floor after a couple of minutes with Santana pinning Brittany's hands above her head. Santana looked down at her with a thoughtful expression on her face.

"What's wrong?" Brittany asked breathlessly.

"Kissing boys is still gross, right?" Santana asked, biting her lip slightly. Brittany frowned, she had no idea what on Earth Santana was bringing that up for but went with it anyway.

"Uh, yeah? Totally gross."

Santana smiled and bent down so that their faces were only an inch apart.

"Okay, good." She whispered. Then she kissed Brittany quickly and softly on the lips before unpinning her and standing up to smooth her clothes as though it were the most natural thing in the world. And to Brittany, it kind of was.


	21. Chapter 21

**Well I don't know about you guys but it's been a heck of a ride for me. This was my first ever fan fic and it's the first multi-chapter one that I'm finishing. I'd like to thank each and every one of my readers/reviewers, you made writing this all the more enjoyable. And I'd also like to thank Sara (sapphos-ghost) my excellent beta and EverShadow for all the much needed pestering and nagging they sent my way to get this finished.**

**So this is the end for now, I've had crazy amounts of fun with the Calm fic-verse so that sequel I mentioned is still a good possibility. :)**

**Anyway, read and enjoy! 3**

* * *

Their first week back at school was fairly uneventful. Quinn and Brittany exchanged awkward apologies on the school bus while Santana surreptitiously texted Kurt, who turned round in his seat at the front of the bus to smirk at a joke Santana had made about Noah Puckerman's new hair style.

"So are you two all made up then?" she asked as she sat back in her seat to look out the window. Brittany who was sitting on her lap to get round the issue of the bus only holding two seaters, swiveled round to look at Santana and nodded.

"Yeah, we're good," Quinn said with a smile.

"Finally," Santana said with a contented sigh. "Ugh, why is Puckerman looking at us?" she asked in a disgusted tone.

"I think he liiiiiiiikes you San," Quinn teased, poking her on the shoulder.

"Uh, gross!" Santana replied looking absolutely mortified. Brittany said nothing and stared out the window for the rest of the journey.

Santana usually enjoyed school ever since her and Brittany had been friends with Quinn, no one bothered them and she could focus in class without having to worry so much about Brittany.

Today, however, she couldn't concentrate on anything other than ignoring Noah Puckerman. All through class he threw notes, spitballs and paper airplanes at her in an attempt to get her attention. She stoically ignored him, but found her temper wavering as the day went on.

At recess she found herself cornered by him while Brittany and Quinn were at the water fountain.

"What do you want, Puckerman?" she growled with a scowl on her face. He smirked and took a step towards her but she stood her ground.

"Just to talk," he replied.

"Well I don't talk to silly little boys so buzz off," she said clenching her fists and putting on her most menacing expression. Noah simply laughed however and kicked his shoe along the ground.

"I didn't see you around much over the summer," he said lamely.

"I was away," Santana replied curtly, silently begging that Quinn and Brittany would come back and rescue her. Noah feigned interest and tried his best to put on an interested expression.

"Oh yeah? Where?"

"None of your business, buzz off," Santana repeated, looking away and spotting Quinn and Brittany walking towards her. She smiled and pushed past Noah but he grabbed her arm causing her to squeal and shriek.

"Get off me!"

"Dude what are you doing?" It was Finn Hudson. Noah let go of Santana immediately and she lost no time in stomping on his foot as hard as she could. He yelped and hopped on the spot as tears formed at the corner of his eyes. Santana mouthed a quick 'thank you' at Finn and he smiled goofily after her as she ran over to Quinn and Brittany.

"What was that all about?" Quinn asked with a perfectly arched eyebrow as Santana reached her friends. Brittany remained silent and fidgeted with the hem of her skirt.

"Nothing, just Puckerman being an ass," Santana replied tossing her hair and glaring at the boy over her shoulder. Finn looked over at them and waved enthusiastically. Quinn blushed and looked down at her feet but not before Santana noticed the expression on her face.

"Oh my God. You like Finn Hudson!" she exclaimed, pointing her finger and laughing. Quinn looked mortified and tried to shush Santana.

"Shut up, they'll hear you!"

"So you admit you like him?" Brittany asked with mild interest.

"No! You guys are stupid," she hissed. Brittany and Santana smirked at each other and Santana nodded her head slightly towards the arguing boys. Brittany took Santana's pinky in her own and tugged her towards them, leaving Quinn standing on her own looking very confused.

"Hey Finn," Brittany and Santana said in unison, Finn grinned and Puck scowled, still rubbing his foot.

"Hi! What's up with uh… Qu-qu…" he faltered, trying to remember Quinn's name as he observed her hitting her head with her palm.

"Quinn," Santana said, flashing him her sweetest smile. "She's uh, she's a little shy," she said casting a glance behind her and winking at Quinn.

"She totally likes you," Brittany blurted out, Santana nudged her in the ribs and Brittany looked at her feet, blushing. Santana gave a little sigh and turned away from Puck who was glaring at her.

"Whatever, it's like my birthday next week and you're coming to my party," Santana said in a sugary sweet voice.

Finn frowned and looked at Puck then back to Santana and paused before asking a little nervously, "Only if Puck can come too."

Santana rolled her eyes but Brittany pinched her arm and she decided not to argue.

"Fine, Puck can come too, but only if he promises not to touch me again," she said flatly, purposely avoiding any eye contact with him. Finn gave them another dopey smile then waved goodbye as he run to catch up with Puck who had stormed off with crimson cheeks.

"Later!" Santana yelled after him. Brittany grabbed her hand and pointed at Quinn who was walking away from them towards the jungle gym, Santana sighed and ran over to her with Brittany close behind.

"Hey! Quinn, what's up?" Quinn turned round and scowled but kept walking, Santana stopped and stamped her foot, crying out in frustration and making a rather impolite gesture behind Quinn's back.

"What's her problem?"

"Maybe she really doesn't like Finn?" Brittany suggested with a small shrug. Santana shook her head and tightened her grip on Brittany's hand, pulling them both across the playground to find Quinn.

They found her sitting atop the jungle gym, swinging her legs from side to side and muttering to herself. Santana waved at her but Quinn scowled and swung her legs round so she was facing away from them. Santana sighed again and walked round so that she could look Quinn in the eyes.

"What's the big deal? You like him, he'll probably like you," Santana said, trying to grab hold of one of Quinn's feet, she frowned and crossed her arms.

"I never said I liked him, he's just a stupid boy," she replied icily. Santana raised one of her eyebrows and yanked one of Quinn's shoes off, looking around her she located the nearest muddy puddle and ran over to it, dangling Quinn's pristine white sneaker precariously above the murky water. Quinn gave a shrieked and jumped down from the jungle gym immediately, hopping over to Santana and grabbing wildly at her shoe. However Santana was a good few inches taller than Quinn and held it far out of her reach.

"Admit it," Santana said with a giggle. Quinn looked furious and after one last attempt to grab the shoe she opted instead to push Santana over.

"Give it back!" she yelled, pinning Santana down by her arms and trying to wrestle the shoe from her grip. Santana threw the shoe to Brittany who only caught it by her fingertips, she looked down at the shoe and then to Quinn, panic settling in her features, unsure what she was supposed to do next. But then Quinn stood up looking livid and Brittany made a run for it, bounding and leaping over all and any obstacles in her way.

She made it to the other end of the playground before hitting a dead end and turning round with a gulp to see Quinn advancing on her menacingly while Santana struggled to keep up with her. She caught her eye and nodded, Santana backed up, understanding immediately. The moment Quinn reached Brittany she threw the shoe over her head to Santana who caught it easily and sprinted off back toward the jungle gym.

Quinn was livid by that point and chased Santana half-way across the playground before catching up with her and tackling her to the ground. They rolled around while Quinn pulled at Santana's hair and shirt.

"Okay, okay! I give," Santana squealed and handed the shoe over to Quinn who snatched it from her unceremoniously and jammed her foot in to it. Brittany giggled and helped Santana to her feet as Quinn crossed her arms and rolled her eyes.

"Jeez, Quinn, it was just a joke," Santana said, dusting herself down and frowning.

"Whatever," she replied. Brittany nudged Santana said quietly, "she's mad about Finn coming to your birthday party," Quinn whipped around angrily.

"No Dutch! Not fair!" Santana laughed and pulled Brittany's hair back to whisper in her ear.

"She really likes him huh?" Quinn sighed and placed her hands on her hips.

"Very clever, no Spanish either," she said grumpily, Santana and Brittany looked at each other; shrugged and started walking back to the school building.

"Come on, we're gonna be late for class," Santana yelled behind her. Quinn gave her one last scowl before running to catch up with her friends.

Leon Lopez rarely missed Santana's birthday but the day she turned eleven it was one of those rare occasions. It fell on a Saturday that year and so Santana and Brittany had stayed awake till midnight watching movies and talking. When the clock on Brittany's bedside table glowed with the numbers 11:59 Brittany paused Finding Nemo and told Santana to make a wish. Santana went to open her mouth but Brittany pressed a hand over it and shushed her.

"If you say it out loud it won't come true silly," Brittany said with a giggle. Santana nodded and pulled her hand away, but held it tightly in her lap. She squeezed her eyes shut and spoke silent to herself, Brittany looked away but not before she saw Santana's lips form the words "Papa" and "home" she tightened her grip on Santana's hand and looked again at her clock. It was midnight.

"Happy birthday San," she said softly, Santana opened her eyes again and smiled. She then leant over and placed a chaste kiss on Brittany's cheek.

"Thanks B."

They were woken early by Katya jumping on the bed and burrowing under the sheets to give Santana a tight squeeze round the middle.

"Happy birthday!" she squealed delightedly.

"Thanks Kat," Santana said sleepily while Brittany groaned and rolled over, attempting to go back to sleep.

"Momma says you two have to get up," Katya said, pulling the covers back and standing up on the bed, jumping a couple of times for good measure.

"Okay, okay I'm up," Brittany said grumpily, rubbing the sleep from her eyes and scowling at her sister. Katya gave a smirk remarkably similar to Santana's then dashed out the room and thundered down the stairs.

"How can she be so energetic at this time in the morning?" Brittany wondered aloud, Santana shrugged and drew back the drapes, letting the winter sunlight stream through the blinds. Brittany shielded her eyes and swatted at Santana's hands.

"C'mon I'm hungry," Santana whined, suddenly feeling much more awake as her stomach growled at her. Brittany stood up and pulled on her robe, yawning and rubbing her eyes again.

"Alright birthday girl I'm awake," Santana grinned and skipped out into the hall with Brittany dawdling behind her mumbling about annoying little sisters and the like.

After breakfast Santana sat on the stairs, waiting for the mailman to arrive. There were already a dozen brightly-coloured, wrapped parcels sitting on the dining room table with Santana's name on them but she had insisted on opening the card from her father first. By 2pm there was still nothing from Leon and Santana dragged herself through to the kitchen where Brittany and Katya were chattering as Lena prepared a late lunch.

"Nothing?" Lena asked with a concerned frown on her face. Santana shook her head dejectedly and took a seat at the breakfast bar. Brittany eyed her hands as they fidgeted with the hem of her skirt, twisting the blue material round and round.

"He'll probably call," she offered, taking a seat next to Santana and placing a hand on her shoulder. Santana shrugged and looked away. After lunch Santana cheered up considerably as Quinn arrived early for the party.

"So who's actually coming?" she asked as she kicked her shoes off and threw them underneath Brittany's bed. Santana thought for a moment, chewing her lip and looking at the ceiling then began reeling off names.

"…Finn, Puck."

"Puck?" Quinn interrupted.

"Noah Puckerman," Santana said slowly, as if she were stupid. Quinn made a disgusted expression and Brittany rolled her eyes.

"He's gross," Quinn said, Brittany nodded silently in agreement. Santana sighed and shook her head.

"Whatever, he's Finn's best friend and Finn's coming, remember?"

Just then the doorbell rang and Brittany glanced at her clock.

"It's half past three, people'll be arriving now," she said with a smile. Santana returned the smile nervously and gave the green ribbons in her hair a final check before following Brittany and Santana downstairs to answer the door.

By 4pm everyone had arrived and Santana was having too much fun to dwell on the absence of her father. She'd been worried that her classmates would ask questions as to the reason her party was being held at Brittany's house rather than her own, but it seemed they'd been a "package deal" for so long it didn't even cross anyone's mind. That along with the mere presence of Quinn Fabray in their midst made it easy enough for Santana to avoid any awkward questions regarding the absence of her own parents.

Half-way through the celebrations however Santana discreetly slipped away upstairs to call her father. As she sat on Lena and Jack's bed listening to the busy tone for the fifth time Noah Puckerman sauntered in wearing a thoroughly bored expression on his face, when Santana heard the footsteps she slammed the phone down back in to its cradle and jumped to her feet, balling her fists.

"What are you doing in here, Puckerman?" she demanded. Puck seemed unperturbed by her aggressive demeanour and leant against the door frame, staring at her.

"What are YOU doing in here? It's your birthday after all," he replied with a smirk not unlike her own. Santana unclenched her fists but maintained a scowl.

"None of your business," she said curtly. Puck rolled his eyes and ran a hand across his waxed hair, he stood up and motioned towards the bed. Santana hesitated for a moment then perched on the edge while Puck took a seat a foot away.

"I was trying to call me father," Santana confessed after a moment's silence. Puck steepled his fingers and stared at his feet.

"Where is he?"

"Out of town, where he works." Puck nodded, slowly processing the information.

"What about your mom?"

Santana visibly flinched at the question but bowed her head and answered clearly.

"She left, she ran out on me and my Papa." Her voice quavered and a single tear ran from her eye to her chin where it clung on, glinting in the light from the hallway. Puck fidgeted slightly, feeling embarrassed, he didn't really know what he was supposed to do when girls cried but he felt it would be wrong to leave her in a dim room sobbing. So he shuffled closer to her and tentatively placed a hand on her shoulder, letting it rest there gently. Santana didn't shrug it off but looked at him suspiciously.

"Why are you being so nice to me?" she asked. Puck shrugged and tightened his grip a fraction.

"I know what it's like, my dad isn't around," Santana wiped her eyes and stared at him.

"Sorry," she said eventually, he shrugged again and removed his hand from her shoulder. Santana frowned, noticing how sad he looked all of a sudden and Noah Puckerman was never sad. Then she remembered.

"Hey, wanna know a trick that'll make you feel better?" Puck narrowed his eyes, taking his own turn to be suspicious, but then he reminded himself he was the Puckasaurus and he was up for anything.

"Okay."

"Close your eyes," Santana commanded, and he did.

Meanwhile downstairs Brittany was looking for Puck and Santana to inform them Puck had to leave along with the other guests because there was special surprise waiting downstairs for Santana. She hurried up the stairs bursting with excitement, that was until she peered round the corner of the hall in to her parents' room. Completely unprepared for the image of Santana locking lips with a boy (and Noah Puckerman at that), Brittany shrieked causing Santana and Puck to jump, petrified expressions forming on their faces.

She wasn't entirely sure why, but Brittany suddenly felt nauseous, that same clenching and unclenching feeling she remembered feeling that day on the beach as she observed Quinn and Santana in the surf had returned.

"You have to go home," she said looking pointedly at Puck, who didn't need telling twice and dashed out the room and down the stairs faster than you could say Mohawk. Santana's face was crimson and she fidgeted with the hem of her skirt till it frayed. A minute of complete silence passed between them before Brittany sighed and delivered her message.

"Someone wants to see you downstairs," she said sharply, before turning on her heel and heading to her bedroom, slamming the door behind her. Deciding that meeting the stranger downstairs instead of facing an angry Brittany was a wise choice Santana took the stairs three at a time and burst in to the living room. There sitting on the couch with a steaming mug of coffee in his hands was Leon.

"Papa!" Santana cried out delightedly and launched herself towards him, almost spilling his coffee in the process.

"Happy birthday Princess," he said, closing his eyes and embracing her tightly. After a moment Santana pulled away and glared at him.

"I called you, like a lot," she said, sniffing disapprovingly. He scratched the back of his head looking guilty as he observed the fresh tears running down Santana's cheeks.

"I wanted to surprise you," he explained, Santana remained scowling. "And I have something I need to tell you face to face," Santana's scowl disappeared instantly and a hopeful glint flashed across her eyes.

"Are you home for good?" she asked, clasping her hands together and grinning.

"No sweetie, just for the weekend," he said gently. Santana's face fell and she crossed her arms.

"You promised you'd come home soon," she accused.

"I know and I'm sorry but I have to do what my boss tells me, you know that," he explained, placing a hand on her cheek. Santana nodded reluctantly but tears welled up in her eyes again all the same.

"Right, so that means I can't get a job in Lima for another few months-"

"Months!" Santana spluttered, her face aghast.

"I'm sorry baby but that's the best I can do," he said, his voice heavy with guilt, but Santana had stopped listening and broken out in to loud, guttural sobs. Leon held her and stroked her hair until her cries subsided.

"Mama's not coming back, is she?" she croaked out after a few minutes.

"No, I don't think so." Leon had always been honest with his daughter and he wasn't about to change that to give her false hope which would only leave her disappointed.

"So what's going to happen to me?"

Leon took a deep breath and smiled but Lena, who had been standing by the mantelpiece with wet eyes answered first. "You'll be staying with us, properly."

Santana's eyes bulged and her mouth formed a silent 'o' shape. "Like… Live here all the time until you come home?" she asked, staring at her father in disbelief.

"Yes, all the time. Jack and Lena have been discussing the idea with me for some time now," he said, ruffling her hair and causing her to giggle nervously and swat his hand away. Lena looked as though she were about to add something but closed her mouth again and grinned as Brittany shot out of the living room and up the stairs.

When she pushed Brittany's bedroom door open cautiously she noticed only the lamp by the bed was illuminated, Brittany was sitting on her bed with her legs crossed and tear-stained cheeks. Santana felt a pang in her chest as she shut the door quietly behind her and walked over to the bed. Brittany didn't look up when she sat down next to her but allowed Santana to take her hand.

"Guess what?" Santana asked timidly, Brittany looked at her then and gave her a weak smile.

"I already knew, but momma told me not to tell," she sighed. Santana felt hurt but pushed it to the back of her mind and instead concentrated on the girl next to her.

"Look B… about Puck," she began, but Brittany held a hand up to shush her. She lay back on the bed and gazed at the glow-in-the-dark stars on her ceiling, murmuring to herself.

"I just thought it was special when it was me, it doesn't feel special now," she said clearly when Santana lay down next to her, still gripping Brittany's hand tightly in her own.

"I just wanted to make him feel better, I really am so-" but Brittany cut her off again and shifted on her side to face Santana.

"It's fine, I can't tell you what to do," she said, drawing circles on Santana's arm. Santana felt new tears forming at the corners of her eyes and her breath hitched in her throat.

"But it wasn't special with him, I'm still yours," she said as though it were the most obvious thing in the world.

"Yeah?" Brittany looked up, a small smile forming. Santana grinned and placed a quick kiss on Brittany's chapped lips.

"Yeah, and you're mine, and we're going to be okay."

* * *

**Fin. **


End file.
